The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms - absence n.

1) non-attendance, non-presence, non-appearance, truancy: This is Jason's third absence from class in a week. She runs the place in my absence. 2) lack, want, deficiency, non-existence; insufficiency, scantiness, paucity, scarcity, dearth: In the absence of new evidence, the matter must remain undecided.