Synonyms for absent-minded

13 synonyms
3 antonyms

adjective

Most common

empty-headed absent preoccupied inattentive mindless inadvertent harebrained unmindful

All synonyms

Adjective

inattentive, empty-headed, preoccupied, absent, unmindful, lost, inadvertent, mindless, harebrained, abstracted, distrait, scatty, heedless

Antonyms

mindful, industrious, memorious

All antonyms of absent-minded →

Definitions

adj. 1
Absent in mind; often preoccupied; forgetful or careless due to distraction; easily distracted.
It took the absent-minded man twenty minutes to find his glasses on top of his head.

Related words

Other spellings: absentminded

Choose the right word

Absent-Minded, Absorbed, Abstracted, Preoccupied, Absent or Oblivious?

As regards mental action, absorbed, abstracted, and preoccupied refer to the cause, absent or absent-minded to the effect. The absent-minded man is oblivious of ordinary matters, because his thoughts are elsewhere.

J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)

Example sentences

absent If he is absent, we will not have an English test.
preoccupied I know that Tom is a little preoccupied right now.
inattentive The older we get, the more inattentive we become.
mindless The internet is great for mindless entertainment.

By length

4 letters: lost¹
6 letters: absent², scatty
8 letters: mindless², heedless, distrait
9 letters: unmindful
10 letters: abstracted³
11 letters: preoccupied⁴, inadvertent⁴, inattentive⁴, harebrained²

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (absent² = 2 syllables).