Word.ws English Dictionary

abstinence

Syllables: ab·sti·nence/ˈæb.stɪ.nəns/

abstinence noun: the act or practice of abstaining, refraining from indulging a desire or appetite.

Noun

abstinence (countable and uncountable, plural abstinences)

  1. The act or practice of abstaining, refraining from indulging a desire or appetite.
    • Near-synonyms: abstentiousness, abstemiousness
    • Penance, Faſts, and Abſtinence, / To puniſh Bodies for the Souls offence.1665 (first performance), John Dryden, The Indian Emperour, or, The Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for H[enry] Herringman […], published 1667, →OCLC, Act I...
    1. Specifically, the practice of abstaining from intoxicating/alcoholic beverages; total abstinence; teetotalism).
      • For quotations using this term, see Citations:abstinence.
    2. Specifically, the practice of abstaining from sexual intercourse, either permanently or until marriage.
      • Abstinence is the only 100% guaranteed contraception.
    3. Abstention from certain foods on days of penitential observance.
      • "The church teaching before Vatican II was that it was 'gravely sinful' to take 2 ounces of meat on a day of abstinence such as Friday," said the Rev. Joseph S. Rossi, a Jesuit professor of church history at Loyola College.1995 September 18, Rafael Alvarez, “Catholics asked to avoid eating meat on Fridays Cardinal suggests abstinence in weeks leading up to Pope's visit”, in Baltimore Sun
  2. The practice of self-denial; self-restraint; forebearance from anything.
  3. (obsolete) Self-denial; abstaining; or forebearance of anything.
  4. Delay of spending to accrue capital.

abstinence meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

abstinence in Hindi

abstinence
अनाहार anāhār, ज़ोहद zohad
abstinence, restraint
विरति virati

abstinence in Tamil

மாது, விலக்குதல், நோன்பு, உபவாசம், இறைச்சி உண்ணாதிருத்தல்

abstinence in Urdu

abstinence
استنجا istinjā
abstinence; refrain
انکار inkār

abstinence in Bengali

abstinence, abstaining
পরহেজ porhej
abstinence, temperance in food
মিতাহার mitahar
More languagesFewer languages
abstinence in Malayalam
ഭാഗികോപവാസം, ലഹരിപദാർത്ഥ വർജ്ജനം, സംയമനം, സമ്പൂർണ്ണമദ്യപരിവർജ്ജനം
abstinence in Kannada
ತಡೆಹಿಡಿತ, ಉಪವಾಸ, ಲಂಘನ, ವರ್ಜನೆ
abstinence in Gujarati
પરહેજ parhej
abstinence in Sanskrit
अनाहार anāhāra
abstinence in Tagalog
pangilin, ngilin

Examples of abstinence in a sentence

  • The abstinence from a present pleasure that offers itself is a pain, nay, oftentimes, a very great one.1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset...
  • These five short films by San Francisco artist James Broughton, reveal to the viewer the artistic changes undergone by the artist during his 15-year abstinence from filmmaking.1981 August 22, Larry Goldsmith, “Lesbian and Gay Independents”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 6, page 10:

Synonyms of abstinence

Forms of abstinence

pluralabstinences
alternative formabstinency

Origin of abstinence

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

Words formed from abstinence

Phrases with abstinence

Questions about abstinence

What does abstinence mean?
Abstinence means the act or practice of abstaining, refraining from indulging a desire or appetite.
What is abstinence in Hindi?
Abstinence in Hindi is अनाहार (anāhār), ज़ोहद (zohad), विरति (virati). See Abstinence meaning in Hindi.
How do you use abstinence in a sentence?
The abstinence from a present pleasure that offers itself is a pain, nay, oftentimes, a very great one.
What part of speech is abstinence?
Abstinence is a noun.
How do you pronounce abstinence?
Abstinence is pronounced /ˈæb.stɪ.nəns/.
What is the plural of abstinence?
The plural of abstinence is abstinences.

Words near abstinence in the dictionary

  1. abstersiveness
  2. abstersives
  3. abstersory
  4. absteyner
  5. absteyners
  6. abstinence
  7. abstinence of war
  8. abstinence only
  9. abstinence ring
  10. abstinence rings
  11. abstinence syndrome

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: abstinence (page history and authors); अनाहार (Hindi) (page history and authors); abstinence (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); استنجا (Urdu) (page history and authors); পরহেজ (Bengali) (page history and authors); abstinence (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); abstinence (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); પરહેજ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); अनाहार (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “abstinence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/abstinence. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.