gone

Something is gone relative to the boundaries of a place or area. We use this word quite frequently to describe someone who isn't present, despite the fact that they still exist somewhere. The connotation, however, is one of nonexistence, thanks largely to the use of the word to describe the deceased. Use of the word in this way is rather existential - the religious among us often respond to it by affirming that the person in question isn't really gone, but is simply no longer present on this plane. To such a degree is the implication of the word so final; it makes people uneasy to hear it applied to even the most permanently absent, thereby encouraging the mental creation of an area, a set of boundaries beyond all we can see and hear and know in this life, implying that there is more.