Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, relating to, or practicing complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages.
  • adjective Total; absolute.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Total; complete; entire: used emphatically.
  • Of, pertaining to, or for the promotion of total abstinence from intoxicating liquors: as, a teetotal society, meeting, or pledge; the teetotal cause.
  • Pledged to total abstinence from intoxicating liquors.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective colloq. Entire; total.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Abstinent from alcohol, never drinking alcohol.
  • adjective Opposed to the drinking of alcohol.
  • adjective Total.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective practicing complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages
  • verb practice teetotalism and abstain from the consumption of alcoholic beverages

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably partly tee (pronunciation of the first letter in total) + total (abstinence), and partly reduplication of total.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

1830s, from total, the reduplicated tee being an intensifier – “T-total”.

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Examples

Comments

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  • I have never heard this word in a conversation, except from non-native speakers.

    December 8, 2010