Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Self-restraint; moderation.
- n. Voluntary control over urinary and fecal discharge.
- n. Partial or complete abstention from sexual activity. See Synonyms at abstinence.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In general, self-restraint with regard to desires and passions; self-command.
- n. In a special sense, the restraint of the sexual passion within due bounds, whether absolute, as in celibacy, or within lawful limits, as in marriage; chastity.
- n. Capacity for holding or containing: as, a measure which has only one half the continence of another. Continuity; uninterrupted course.
Wiktionary
- n. The voluntary control of urination and defecation.
- n. Moderation or self-restraint, especially in sexual activity; abstinence.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Self-restraint; self-command.
- n. The restraint which a person imposes upon his desires and passions; the act or power of refraining from indulgence of the sexual appetite, esp. from unlawful indulgence; sometimes, moderation in sexual indulgence.
- n. obsolete Uninterrupted course; continuity.
WordNet 3.0
- n. voluntary control over urinary and fecal discharge
- n. the exercise of self constraint in sexual matters
Etymologies
- Dated from the 14th Century CE; from Old French continence, from Latin continentia ("a repression"). (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Nurses and nurse practitioners who are trained in continence care are needed to help provide support for those individuals living with incontinence in the community and their caregivers.”
Dr. Sharma’s Obesity Notes » Blog Archive » Obesity Network Joins Incontinence Coalition
“And, while Jeff's comment on clerical continence is premature, I suspect we are heading toward a serious re-examination of that issue at the universal level.”
“Full bladder continence is pretty much there in spite of his obvious fear of any public toilet (remember that big insulated bubble he has) but we have yet to poopin the potty.”
“With all its color and fierce action, a certain Greek continence pervades it.”
“Periodic continence, that is, the methods of birth regulation based on self-observation and the use of infertile periods, is in conformity with the objective criteria of morality.”
“The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, "Periodic continence, that is, the methods of birth regulation based on self-observation and the use of infertile periods, is in conformity with the objective criteria of morality.”
The Wall Street Journal: One Church, Universal and Not Opposed to Family Planning
“Hence by receiving a certain order a man receives the power of exercising certain sacred acts, but he is not bound on this account to things pertaining to perfection, except in so far as in the Western Church the receiving of a sacred order includes the taking of a vow of continence, which is one of the things pertaining to perfection, as we shall state further on (Q. 186, A. 4).”
“As a form of continence, however, if it can be called continence, it is asserted to bring none of the long course of evils which too often follow the practice of lifelong abstinence, or abstinence broken only when a child is desired.”
“He speaks of the "Indian men who, animal-like, approach a female only to make love to her," and to whom the idea of continence is unknown”
“For this reason, and because the conditions of what is licit are so accommodating and wide, a certain negative virtue (it can hardly be called continence or chastity) pervades Mohammedan society, in contrast with which the gross and systematic immorality in certain parts of every”
Two Old Faiths Essays on the Religions of the Hindus and the Mohammedans
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘continence’.
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GRE Barron's 800
abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abject, abjure, abscission, abscond, abstemious, abstinence, abysmal, accretion and 787 more...
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From reading
Collected from reading
venerate, reprobate, reticent, adoration, ethereal, ephemeral, equivocal, contumacious, heinous, solicitous, agnostic, aberration and 335 more...
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Sober/Stately/Steady
resolute, unfaltering, deliberate, resolved, circumspect, thoughtful, intent, earnest, ardent, intense, sedulous, laborious and 138 more...
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MiaLuthien's list ♥
gambit, prehensile, coquetry, impunity, genuflect, ensconce, clavicle, delude, beget, castigate, life caching, convoluted and 478 more...
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Good Words
fenestering, cetic, immanent, quickening, archetypal, shibboleth, soma, wetware, heritable, Apotheosis, halcyon, cellar door and 482 more...
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Big Book #2 List
absolution, restitution, contrition, moratorium, nautical, nirvana, pandemonium, perennial, symposium, dialectic, dipsomaniacal, ecumenical and 117 more...
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Tolland's list
Those I've come across and try to keep fresh within my mind.
clandestine, dysphoric, indictive, vigil, fractious, assiduous, indefatigable, ubiquitous, insidious, paroicous, aplomb, sangfroid and 654 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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spamdad's Words
lambic, weizenbock, bock, zymurgy, vade mecum, quotidian, sesquipedalian, eremite, sphragis, privation, aegis, sui generis and 275 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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difficult-list11
conservatory, consign, consort, construe, contend, contention, continence, contingent, contraband, contravene, contrite, contrived and 8 more...
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set 3
intersperse, spruce, splice, gall, tumid, continence, parquet, controvert, epitome, ligneous, intrasigence, specious and 7 more...
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Notecards
These words need to be put on notecards.
mimesis, obtrude, ex cathedra, interlocutor, atomistic, majordomo, brusque, contrive, tautology, betoken, obliquity, tracery and 5 more...
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GRE Barron words 2-3
beneficent, bifurcate, blandishment, blasé, bolster, bombastic, boorish, bovine, brazen, broach, bucolic, burgeon and 74 more...
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suryaprasannakumar's list
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Everyday vocabulary - Good 2 know
ADL, performing arts, continence, make the bed, sense of locality, abode, obituary
Tweets
Looking for tweets for continence.
catspringer "Give me chastity and continence, but not yet." -- St. Augustine Mar 2, 2009