ABSTINENCE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does abstinence mean? 

• ABSTINENCE (noun)
  The noun ABSTINENCE has 2 senses:

1. the trait of abstaining (especially from alcohol)

2. act or practice of refraining from indulging an appetite

  Familiarity information: ABSTINENCE used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ABSTINENCE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The trait of abstaining (especially from alcohol)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

abstention; abstinence

Hypernyms ("abstinence" is a kind of...):

self-denial; self-discipline (the trait of practicing self discipline)

Derivation:

abstain (choose not to consume)

abstinent (self-restraining; not indulging an appetite especially for food or drink)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Act or practice of refraining from indulging an appetite

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("abstinence" is a kind of...):

self-control; self-denial; self-discipline (the act of denying yourself; controlling your impulses)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "abstinence"):

celibacy; chastity; sexual abstention (abstaining from sexual relations (as because of religious vows))

sobriety; temperance (abstaining from excess)

teetotaling; teetotalism (abstaining from alcohol)

fast; fasting (abstaining from food)

inhibition; suppression ((psychology) the conscious exclusion of unacceptable thoughts or desires)

sawm (the third pillar of Islam is fasting (primarily during the month of Ramadan); Muslims abstain from food and drink and gambling and all sensuous pleasures from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan)

Derivation:

abstinent (self-restraining; not indulging an appetite especially for food or drink)

 Context examples 

A tool to evaluate neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), that measures the degree to which a neonate is experiencing symptoms of withdrawal due to maternal substance abuse.

(Finnegan Score Measurement, NCI Thesaurus)

"Try, then. I give you leave," returned Laurie, who enjoyed having someone to tease, after his long abstinence from his favorite pastime.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The bargain might appear unequal; but there was still another consideration in the scales; for while Jekyll would suffer smartingly in the fires of abstinence, Hyde would be not even conscious of all that he had lost.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

But the success has not hitherto been answerable, partly by some error in the quantum or composition, and partly by the perverseness of lads, to whom this bolus is so nauseous, that they generally steal aside, and discharge it upwards, before it can operate; neither have they been yet persuaded to use so long an abstinence, as the prescription requires.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

He certainly wished her to go willingly, but he as certainly wished her to be heartily sick of home before her visit ended; and that a little abstinence from the elegancies and luxuries of Mansfield Park would bring her mind into a sober state, and incline her to a juster estimate of the value of that home of greater permanence, and equal comfort, of which she had the offer.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)