Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Refraining from undue indulgence, especially in the use of food and drink; characterized by moderation; abstemious.
- n. One who abstains or is abstinent; an abstainer.
- n. [capitalized] One of a sect which appeared in France and Spain in the third century. The Abstinents opposed marriage, condemned the eating of flesh, and placed the Holy Spirit in the class of created beings.
Wiktionary
- n. usually capitalized, religion, historical One of a sect who appeared in France and Spain in the 3rd century, and believed in abstinence towards meat and sex.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Refraining from indulgence, especially from the indulgence of appetite; abstemious; continent; temperate.
- n. One who abstains.
- n. (Eccl. Hist.) One of a sect who appeared in France and Spain in the 3d century.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a person who refrains from drinking intoxicating beverages
- adj. self-restraining; not indulging an appetite especially for food or drink
Etymologies
- From Middle English abstinent (adjective form). (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Similarly, some very health-minded people will do the healthy thing and remain abstinent until marriage, then remain faithful to their spouses.”
“Encouraging teens to be abstinent is a worthy (if impossible) goal, but not at the expense of leaving them unprepared to practice safe sex.”
“Cognitive performance in long-term abstinent alcoholic individuals.”
“Presumably the abstinent are the best judges of the ratedness of abstinence, over or not.”
"Abstinence allowed me to get rid of the garbage internally and externally."
“We don't want leaders who are willing to slap the public's desire -- support for comprehensive programs -- in the face, selling out to programs that will fund efforts to make us "pure" and "abstinent" -- and ultimately worse off -- until the age of 29!”
Yvonne Fulbright and Danielle Cavallucci: Are you %&*#'ing Kidding Me??
“Elsewhere I have shown that even the requirement for church leaders to be "abstinent" (1 Tim 3: 2) finds its precedent in the Old Testament strict prohibition against the use of alcoholic beverages by the priests (Lev 10: 9) .32 The construction of the phrase without article "mias gunaikos andra - one-wife-man" emphasizes the moral character of the individual as being totally committed to one woman.”
“I bet he fucked his cello when he was "abstinent".”
"Abstinence allowed me to get rid of the garbage internally and externally."
“AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) says just to sever your ties with those people to be sure that you stay abstinent.”
Alcohol intake of friends, family impact your drinking habits
“The same way sex education advocates acknowledge that not all teens will be abstinent and need to learn how to protect themselves and be safe, we need to acknowledge that not all teens are going to abstain from drug use and they also need to be provided honest drug education that will keep them safe.”
The Huffington Post: Tony Newman: Why We Need Honest Sex -- And Drug -- Education in Schools
“Earlier studies showed that 42 percent of smokers receiving the vaccine remained abstinent after a year, compared with 21 percent who got a placebo shot.”
Behavioral Vaccine, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘abstinent’.
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1906 Railway Cipher Code
Terms from the Standard Cipher Code of the American Railway Association, 1906. The terms were shorthand for common phrases used in telegraphic communications between station agents and Railway Asso...
abetting, abdominal, abiology, ablative, abnormal, abominate, aboveboard, abrasive, absinth, abstinent, accursed, acetate and 212 more...
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deegee's Words
pay-per-view, vitriol, delectable, snarky, unflinching, forsake, pervasive, inconsequential, unnerving, allure, endearing, unalloyed and 414 more...
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Norman Lewis
All Words
ebullient, eccentric, eclectic, edify, efface, effusion, egalitarian, egocentric, egoist, egregious, elicit, elliptical and 907 more...
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gmat
aberrant, ablution, abeyance, abrogate, abscond, abstemious, abstinent, abstruse, abulia, impairment, assent, accede and 6 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for abstinent.
hernesheir I find it amusing that the term abstinent was used in telegraphic communications as shorthand for "will not be able to accommodate". --1906 US Railway Assn. Standard Cipher Code. Of course, "to accommodate" in these communications meant to find lodgings or seats on a train for the agent(s) or person(s) referred to. Jan 19, 2013