Word.ws English Dictionary

abstinence only

abstinence only noun: a form of sex education that advocates only abstinence as a means to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

Noun

abstinence only (uncountable)

  1. A form of sex education that advocates only abstinence as a means to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
    • Programs have been developed that either advocate abstinence only […] or abstinence-plus […].2002, Marysol Asencio, Sex and Sexuality Among New York's Puerto Rican Youth, page 149
    • Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas specify the teaching of abstinence only until marriage.2002, Larry D. Burlew, Dave Capuzzi, Sexuality Counseling, page 75

Examples of abstinence only in a sentence

  • Not only was the federal government encouraging abstinence only; […].2003, Judith Levine, Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children from Sex, page 101:
  • […] directly to organizations that teach abstinence only without going through the states.2006, David Cooper, Broken America, page 182:

Questions about abstinence only

What does abstinence only mean?
Abstinence only means a form of sex education that advocates only abstinence as a means to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
How do you use abstinence only in a sentence?
Not only was the federal government encouraging abstinence only; […].
What part of speech is abstinence only?
Abstinence only is a noun.

Words near abstinence only in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: abstinence only (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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