Word Finder - abstain

definition

Keep or withhold oneself.

definition

Refrain from (something or doing something); keep from doing, especially an indulgence.

example

In order to improve his health, Rob decided to abstain from smoking.

definition

Fast (not eat for a period).

definition

Deliberately refrain from casting one's vote at a meeting where one is present.

example

I abstain from this vote, as I have no particular preference.

definition

Hinder; keep back; withhold.

During Lent, many religious people decide to abstain from something to focus more clearly on God.

Next he must abstain from all flesh diet except fish.

I am trying to abstain from sweets for my new diet.

If you would like to be a safer driver, abstain from using your phone while behind the wheel.

Some have added fish to their dietary; but, speaking generally, all who are called vegetarians will be found to abstain from the use of flesh and fowl and almost invariably also from fish as food.

You may either vote or abstain from making a decision for now.

The survivors believe that the ghostly ogre, being so well provided for, will abstain from haunting them.

To ensure that my heart stays healthy, I abstain from eating sodium.

They both abstain from meat and liquor, marry at the age of puberty, ordinarily celebrate their ceremonies through the agency of the elders of their own caste and bury their dead.

During this fast they abstain from the gratification of every appetite and passion whatever.

The lover of wisdom, who is priest of the universal God, rather than risk the taking into himself of inferior souls and polluting demons, will abstain from eating animals.

Both parties agreed to respect the religious views of their opponents and to abstain from all violence, and the Compacts were again confirmed.

The guiding principle in watering plants is to do it thoroughly when it is required, and to abstain from giving a second supply till the first has been taken up.

Lord John Russell, indeed, was too earnest in his desire for reform to abstain from one serious effort to accomplish it.

As soon as the pilgrim assumes the ihram or pilgrim dress he must abstain from cutting his hair or nails.

After reiterating commands to abstain from idolatry and to observe the Sabbath, vv.

Purity rings are rings that symbolize a commitment to abstain from sex until marriage.

In England it had not been possible to bring the old British and the young Anglo-Saxon churches into friendly union; but in spite of this the Celts did not abstain from working at the common tasks of Christendom, and the continent has much to thank them for.

In 1796, Alexander Kilham, who refused to abstain from agitation for further reform, and accused his brethren of priestcraft, was expelled from their ranks and the New Connexion was formed with 5000 members (see Methodist New Connexion).

Victor Emmanuel himself wrote to Garibaldi urging him to abstain from an attack on Naples, but Garibaldi refused to obey, and on the 19th of August he crossed with 4500 men and took Reggio by storm.

It was essential in the old Greek rites of averting the Keres or djinns, the ill regulated ghosts who return to earth and molest the living, to abstain from flesh.

Frederick bluntly informed his nephew that, in concert with Russia and Denmark, he had guaranteed the integrity of the existing Swedish constitution, and significantly advised the young monarch to play the part of mediator and abstain from violence.

In the treaty which Russia was compelled to sign Turkey obtained the restitution of Azov, the destruction of the forts built by Russia and the undertaking that the tsar should abstain from future interference in the affairs of the Poles or the Cossacks.

To abstain, therefore, from the quest for power is logically entailed by an understanding of the evil of violence.

The fact, however, must not be overlooked that while vegetarian societies claim as "vegetarians" all who abstain from flesh foods, there is a large and growing number of people who repudiate the name of "vegetarian" because of its associations, but who none the less, for some of the reasons detailed below, abstain from eating anything that has been killed.

Members were also instructed to completely abstain from all drugs.

People who do not abstain should do everything possible to reduce risk, including using condoms.

Tone did not feel himself bound in honour by his compact with the government at home to abstain from further conspiracy; and finding himself at Philadelphia in the congenial company of Reynolds, Rowan and Napper Tandy, he undertook a mission to Paris to persuade the French government to send an expedition to invade Ireland.

The powers having engaged to abstain from intervention in italian affairs, Victor Emmanuel addressed a letter to Pius IX.

Pompey finally took the stronghold by choosing the day of the fast, when the Jews abstain from all work, that is the sabbath (Strabo).

A Conscience clause is the term given to a special provision often inserted in an English act of parliament to enable persons having religious scruples to absent themselves from certain services, or to abstain from certain duties, otherwise prescribed by the act.

The less conciliatory attitude towards the Italian government was resumed in an encyclical addressed to the Italian clergy (5th August 1898), in which he insisted on the duty of Italian Catholics to abstain from political life while the papacy remained in its "painful, precarious and intolerable position."

Austria and Russia supported Augustus III., elector of Saxony, and the empress Anne marched an army into Poland and compelled the election of her candidate, though Russia had bound herself by the treaty of 1711 and again by that of 1720 to abstain from all interference with Poland.

In July 1755 a very polite and, as far as Voltaire was concerned, indirect resolution of the Consistory declared that in consequence of these proceedings of the Sieur de Voltaire the pastors should notify their flocks to abstain, and that the chief syndic should be informed of the Consistory's perfect confidence that the edicts would be carried out.

They averred that the sum and substance of their "fault" was that they had been accustomed to meet on a fixed day before daylight to sing in turns a hymn to Christ as God, and to bind themselves by a solemn oath (sacramento) to abstain from theft or robbery, and from adultery, perjury and dishonesty; after which they were wont to separate and to meet again for a common meal.

Like many of the leading modern utilitarians, they combined with their psychological distrust of popular judgments of right and wrong, and their firm conviction that all such distinctions are based solely on law and convention, the equally unwavering principle that the wise man who would pursue pleasure logically must abstain from that which is usually denominated "wrong" or "unjust."

Furthermore, he must abstain all his life from sexual intercourse; he may not take even a blade of grass without permission of the owner; he must not kill even a worm or ant; he must not boast of his perfection.

While advising Congress to " abstain from the introduction of those exciting topics of sectional character which have hitherto produced painful apprehensions in the public mind," he favoured the admission of California as a free state, and counselled the legislators to await the action of the people of New Mexico and Utah upon the slavery question.

The authorities tried to extort from him a promise that he would abstain from preaching; but he was convinced that he was divinely set apart and commissioned to be a teacher of righteousness, and he was fully determined to obey God rather than man.

The pilgrimage retained its importance for the commercial well-being of Mecca; to this day the Meccans live by the Hajj - letting rooms, acting as guides and directors in the sacred ceremonies, as contractors and touts for land and sea transport, as well as exploiting the many benefactions that flow to the holy city; while the surrounding Bedouins derive support from the camel-transport it demands and from the subsidies by which they are engaged to protect or abstain from molesting the pilgrim caravans.

But though there was but little money to dispose of, he and Buckiugham, who, now that James was sick and infirm, Were the real leaders of the government, could not endure to abstain from the prosecution of the war.

That the members of this " city of Zeus " should observe their contracts, abstain from mutual harm, combine to protect each other from injury, were obvious points of natural law; while again, it was clearly necessary to the preservation of human society that its members should form sexual unions, produce children, and bestow care on their rearing and training.

This time Venizelos, as a protest against the King's unconstitutional proceedings, called upon his party to abstain from the polls; and as a result, only 230,000 votes were cast, as against 720,000 in the previous election.

It was publicly agreed that England's difficulty in South Africa was Ireland's opportunity, and that all should abstain from supporting an amendment to the address which admitted that the war would have to be fought out.

With such followers he made the constitution of 1876 and all the laws of the monarchy, putting a limited franchise in the place of universal suffrage, curtailing liberty of conscience, rights of association and of meeting, liberty of the press, checking democracy, obliging the military to abstain from politics, conciliating the Carlists and Catholics by his advances to the Vatican, the Church and the religious orders, pandering to the protectionists by his tariff policy, and courting abroad the friendship of Germany and Austria after contributing to the marriage of his king to an Austrian princess.

Requesting the doctor to abstain from applying any pigments containing iron oxide or other metallic components is a good way to keep you safe from potential complications with permanent makeup.

They abstain from all flesh foods, such as meat, fish and poultry, as well as products made from animals, like eggs, milk, butter, and cheese.

It can be used for years as a maintenance therapy for keeping those who cannot abstain away from drugs.

However, this method has become more controversial in recent years, due to the amount of time many patients require the maintenance to abstain from using.

The Pattyn's group, The Silver Ring Thing, is a Christian abstinence organization that developed the trend to wear a silver ring to symbolize the commitment to abstain from sex before marriage.