What does "abstentionism" mean?

A policy of abstaining or of the desirability of withholding one's vote or other participation with regard to some aspect of the political process.

How do you pronounce "abstentionism"?

Pronounced //əbˈstɛn.ʃn̩.ɪz.m̩//.

//əbˈstɛn.ʃn̩.ɪz.m̩// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A policy of abstaining or of the desirability of withholding one's vote or other participation with regard to some aspect of the political process. countable, uncountable
"Abstentionism is a manifestation of political independence."

"Abstentionism is a manifestation of political independence."

From French abstentionnisme. By surface analysis, abstention + -ism.

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