Absentmindedly

adv

adv ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adverb
  1. 1
    Alternative form of absent-mindedly. alt-of, alternative

    "Across the aisle, she was absentmindedly fiddling with a loose piece of yarn that had unraveled from her sweater, wrapping it around her finger the same way Derek was wrapped around her finger. And she didn't even know it. Hoo-boy. She killed him."

Adverb
  1. 1
    in an absentminded or preoccupied manner wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
absentlyabstractedlyinattentively

Example

More examples

"Even though the student appeared to be focused, he was actually absentmindedly gazing at the ceiling."

Etymology

From absentminded + -ly.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.