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ABSTAIN

Pronunciation (US):

Dictionary entry overview: What does abstain mean?

• ABSTAIN (verb)
The verb ABSTAIN has 2 senses:

1. refrain from voting
2. choose not to consume

Familiarity information: ABSTAIN used as a verb is rare.

Dictionary entry details

• ABSTAIN (verb)

Sense 1

abstain ^{[BACK TO TOP]}

Meaning:

Refrain from voting

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "abstain" is one way to...):

forbear; refrain (resist doing something)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sense 2

abstain ^{[BACK TO TOP]}

Meaning:

Choose not to consume

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Synonyms:

desist; abstain; refrain

Context example:

I abstain from alcohol

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "abstain"):

fast (abstain from eating)

fast (abstain from certain foods, as for religious or medical reasons)

avoid; keep off (refrain from certain foods or beverages)

teetotal (practice teetotalism and abstain from the consumption of alcoholic beverages)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP
Somebody ----s VERB-ing

Antonym:

consume (serve oneself to, or consume regularly)

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ABSTAIN: related words searches

» Definition of teetotal
» What does forbear mean?
» consume: pronunciation in phonetic transcription
» avoid meaning
» Definition of fast

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