Definition of 'truant'
Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular present tense truants
, present participle truanting
, past tense, past participle truanted
1. countable noun
2. verb
If a pupil truants, he or she stays away from school without permission.
Synonyms: absent yourself, play truant, skive [British, slang], bunk off [slang] More Synonyms of truant
3.
See to play truant
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
British English pronunciation
American English pronunciation
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Word Frequency
truant in British English
adjective
2.
being or relating to a truant
verb
3. (intransitive)
to play truant
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Derived forms
truancy (ˈtruancy) or truanting (ˈtruanting) noun
Word origin
C13: from Old French: vagabond, probably of Celtic origin; compare Welsh truan miserable, Old Irish trōg wretched
Word Frequency
truant in American English
noun
2.
a pupil who stays away from school without permission
3.
a person who neglects his or her work or duties
verb intransitive
7.
to be or play truant
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Word origin
ME < OFr, beggar, vagabond < Celt, as in Ir trōgán, dim. of truag, wretched
Word Frequency
truant in American English
(ˈtruːənt)
noun
1.
a student who stays away from school without permission
2.
a person who shirks or neglects his or her duty
adjective
3.
absent from school without permission
4.
neglectful of duty or responsibility; idle
5.
of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a truant
intransitive verb
SYNONYMS 2. idler, shirker, layabout, loafer, malingerer.6.
to be truant
Most material © 2005, 1997, 1991 by Penguin Random House LLC. Modified entries © 2019
by Penguin Random House LLC and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Derived forms
truantly adverb
Word origin
[1250–1300; ME ‹ OF: vagrant, beggar ‹ Celtic; cf. Welsh truan wretched, wretch]Examples of 'truant' in a sentence
truant
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In other languages
truant
British English: truant
NOUN /ˈtruːənt/
A truant is a pupil who stays away from school without permission.
The parents of persistent truants can be put in jail.
- American English: truant /ˈtruənt/
- Brazilian Portuguese: aluno que mata aulas
- Chinese: 逃学者
- European Spanish: estudiante que se ausenta de clase sin autorización
- French: élève absentéiste
- German: Schulschwänzer
- Italian: chi marina la scuola
- Japanese: 無断欠席者
- Korean: 무단결석생
- European Portuguese: aluno que falta às aulas
- Latin American Spanish: estudiante que se ausenta de clase sin autorización
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Definition of truant from the Collins English Dictionary
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