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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

abstinence.

The act or practice of abstaining, refraining from indulging a desire or appetite.

10 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈæb.stɪ.nəns/
  1. The act or practice of abstaining, refraining from indulging a desire or appetite.

    countable · uncountable
  2. The act or practice of abstaining, refraining from indulging a desire or appetite. Specifically, the practice of abstaining from intoxicating/alcoholic beverages; total abstinence; teetotalism).

    countable · uncountable
  3. The act or practice of abstaining, refraining from indulging a desire or appetite. Specifically, the practice of abstaining from sexual intercourse, either permanently or until marriage.

    countable · uncountable
    Abstinence is the only 100% guaranteed contraception.
  4. The act or practice of abstaining, refraining from indulging a desire or appetite. Abstention from certain foods on days of penitential observance.

    countable · uncountable
  5. The practice of self-denial; self-restraint; forebearance from anything.

    countable · uncountable
  6. Self-denial; abstaining; or forebearance of anything.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
  7. Delay of spending to accrue capital.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English abstinence, from Old French abstinence, from Latin abstinentia, from abstinēns, present participle of abstineō (“to withhold”). Equivalent to abstain + -ence.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.