Adjacent Words

abstention definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the trait of abstaining (especially from alcohol) [syn: abstinence, abstention]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Late Latin abstention-, abstentio, from Latin abstin?re Date: 1521 the act or practice of abstaining • abstentious adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. the act or an instance of abstaining, esp. from voting. Etymology: F abstention or LL abstentio -onis (as ABSTAIN)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Abstention Ab*sten"tion, a. [F. See Abstain.] The act of abstaining; a holding aloof. --Jer. Taylor.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(abstentions) Abstention is a formal act of not voting either for or against a proposal. ...a vote of sixteen in favor, three against, and one abstention... N-VAR

Moby Thesaurus

Encratism, Friday, Lenten fare, Pythagoreanism, Pythagorism, Rechabitism, Shakerism, Spartan fare, Stoicism, abstainment, abstemiousness, abstinence, anythingarianism, asceticism, avoidance, banyan day, celibacy, chastity, continence, cop-out, desuetude, disuse, eschewal, evasion, fast, fence-sitting, fish day, fruitarianism, gymnosophy, impartiality, independence, mugwumpery, mugwumpism, nephalism, neutralism, neutrality, nonalignment, noncommitment, nonemployment, noninvolvement, nonpartisanism, nonprevalence, nonuse, nothingarianism, obsolescence, obsoleteness, obsoletion, obsoletism, pensioning off, plain living, refraining, refrainment, retirement, sexual abstinence, simple diet, spare diet, strict neutrality, superannuation, teetotalism, the pledge, total abstinence, unprevalence, vegetarianism