Abstain

//əbˈsteɪn// verb

verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    Keep or withhold oneself. obsolete, reflexive, transitive
  2. 2
    choose not to consume wordnet
  3. 3
    Refrain from (something or doing something); keep from doing, especially an indulgence. intransitive

    "In order to improve his health, Rob decided to abstain from smoking."

  4. 4
    refrain from voting wordnet
  5. 5
    Refrain from (something or doing something); keep from doing, especially an indulgence.; To refrain from drinking alcohol. intransitive

    "… she had made Bunting abstain very early in their acquaintance. … Glad she was now that he had taken the pledge as a younger man; but for that nothing would have kept him from the drink during the bad times they had gone through."

Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    Fast (not eat for a period). intransitive, obsolete
  2. 7
    Deliberately refrain from casting one's vote at a meeting where one is present. intransitive

    "I abstain from this vote, as I have no particular preference."

  3. 8
    Hinder; keep back; withhold. obsolete, transitive

    "Whether he abstain men from marying [sic]."

Synonyms

All synonyms
forbearforgorefrainrefrainwithholdabjure

Example

More examples

"Athletes usually abstain from smoking."

Etymology

First attested around 1380. From Middle English absteynen, absteinen, abstenen, from Old French astenir, abstenir, from Latin abstineō (“to hold oneself back”) from abs- (“from”) + teneō (“I hold”). See also tenable.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.