noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The act of restraining oneself. countable, obsolete, uncountable
2. 2
   the trait of abstaining (especially from alcohol) wordnet
3. 3
   The act of abstaining or refraining (from). countable, uncountable

   "abstention from alcohol"

4. 4
   The act of declining to vote on a particular issue. countable, uncountable

   "There were five abstentions in the vote."

5. 5
   Non-participation in the political world; as a country avoiding international affairs. countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms

abstinenceabstainmentabstemiousnessabstentiousnessabstinenceanythingarianism

Antonyms

All antonyms

adventure

Example

More examples

"There were two votes in favor of the measure, two against, and one abstention."

Etymology

First attested in 1521. Borrowed from French abstention, from Late Latin abstēntiō from Latin abstinēō (“withhold, to abstain”)

Related phrases

abstention doctrinenon participation

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