Definition of "nonappearance" [non•ap•pear•ance]

• Law Failure of a defendant to appear in an action. (noun)
• Law Failure of a witness or party to appear in response to a subpoena or notice. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "News of Gen. Meade's victory over Gen. Lee destroyed the last effort by the Confederacy to win recognition in Parliament, but the celebration at the U.S. Embassy was muted by the staff's puzzlement over the nonappearance of the weekly mail ship from New York."
• ""You'd rather have the witnesses not appear and tax the government on their nonappearance.""
• "At first its nonappearance did not worry me much, for I attributed the delay to the bad weather, and supposed Colonel Crawford had wisely laid up during the worst storms."