noun
truant
TROO-uhnt
noun
1
A student who stays away from school without permission.
"The truant was caught hiding out at the arcade during school hours."
verb
1
To skip school or shirk one's responsibilities without permission.
"He used to truant every Friday to go fishing."
How to Use Truant
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishSomeone who skips school without permission, or the act of doing so.
Common pairings
play truant
truant officer
Word Forms
truanted past tense, truants plural, truants singular
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Etymology
From Old French truant, "beggar" or "vagabond," probably of Celtic origin — the word originally described any wandering idler, long before it narrowed to mean a school-skipper.