Synonyms for abstain

Grammar : Verb

Spell : ab-steyn

Phonetic Transcription : æbˈsteɪn

Top 10 synonyms for abstain

Other synonyms for the word abstain

Définition of abstain

Origin : late 14c., "to withhold oneself," from Old French abstenir (14c.), earlier astenir (13c.) "hold (oneself) back, refrain, abstain (from), practice abstinence," from Latin abstinere "withhold, keep back, keep off," from ab(s)- "from, away from" (see ab-) + tenere "to hold" (see tenet). Specifically of liquor, attested from late 14c. Of voting, 1796. Related: Abstained; abstaining.

verb hold back from doing

Example sentences :

Merely to abstain from definition was like a load taken off my mind.
Extract from : « The Conquest of Fear » by Basil King

I told him that he might abstain in future from such a mockery of love.
Extract from : « A Comedy of Marriage and Other Tales » by Guy De Maupassant

Then we must abstain from spoiling the dead or hindering their burial?
Extract from : « The Republic » by Plato

I do not include Socrates, who is able either to drink or to abstain, and will not mind, whichever we do.
Extract from : « Symposium » by Plato

Or would you abstain from using the potion altogether, although you have no reason for abstaining?'
Extract from : « Laws » by Plato

And do you not regard it as right and just to abstain from wrong?
Extract from : « The Memorabilia » by Xenophon

The Newry folks, and all of their breed, abstain from whining and cadging.
Extract from : « Ireland as It Is » by Robert John Buckley (AKA R.J.B.)

If both are open to suspicion,199 we abstain from drawing any conclusion.
Extract from : « Introduction to the Study of History » by Charles V. Langlois

Is it not his guide at table-d'hte, teaching him, when to eat, and where to abstain?
Extract from : « Arthur O'Leary » by Charles James Lever

Seeing that she had been so treated had she not been wrong to abstain from the word?
Extract from : « Kept in the Dark » by Anthony Trollope

Antonyms for abstain

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