Word Finder - refraining

definition

To hold back, to restrain (someone or something).

definition

To show restraint; to hold oneself back.

definition

To repress (a desire, emotion etc.); to check or curb.

definition

(with preposition "from") To stop oneself from some action or interference; to abstain.

definition

To abstain from (food or drink).

definition

The act of one who refrains from doing something.

The ocean-carrying trade was almost wholly in the hands of foreigners, the government wisely refraining from an attempt to develop an occupation for which its citizens had no natural aptitude.

In the monothelite controversy then raging he acted with cautious reserve, refraining at least from express condemnation of the Typus of Constans II.

However, it must also be remembered that, throughout the whole of his career, Gould consulted the convenience of working ornithologists by almost invariably refraining from including in his folio works the technical description of any new species without first publishing it in some journal of comparatively easy access.

It is said that at least Bernardo del Nero would have been spared had Savonarola raised his voice, but, although refraining from any active part against the prisoners, the prior would not ask mercy for them.

He concentrated all his energies on the government and defence of northern and eastern Germany, leaving the southern and western districts to profit by his example, while his policy of refraining from interference in the affairs of the other duchies tended to diminish the ill-feeling which existed between the various German tribes and to bring peace to the country as a whole.

After 1864 Hall bore more than his fair share of the odium and condemnation which weighed so heavily upon the national Liberal party, making no attempt to repudiate responsibility and refraining altogether from attacking patently unscrupulous opponents.

He listened, refraining from a reply, and involuntarily wondered how this old man, living alone in the country for so many years, could know and discuss so minutely and acutely all the recent European military and political events.

And she ran out of the room, with difficulty refraining from tears of vexation and irritation rather than of sorrow.

This involves refraining from animal testing, which saves the lives of countless creatures each year.

In the 12-step program, there is an element of admitting powerlessness over the addiction, surrendering to a higher power, and refraining from using the drug.

Pregnant women can reduce the risk of clubfoot by refraining from smoking.

Lastly, the child will begin to show signs of being able to delay urination or bowel movements such as waking from sleep still dry or refraining from urinating or defecating for longer periods of time while not wearing a diaper.

Abstinence involves refraining from engaging in intercourse.

Refraining from sexual intercourse can be tough at times, but remember that pregnancy is only a temporary condition.

The most common purity promise is one of abstinence - refraining from sex until marriage.

The resignation of the Gladstone-Granville cabinet further precluded the projected Italian occupation of Suakin, and the Italians, wisely refraining from an independent attempt to succour Kassala, then besieged by the Mahdists, bent their efforts to the increase of their zone of occupation around Massawa.

But the likeness probably goes deeper than superficial resemblance that appeals to the eye, for spiders which distinguish flies from bees by touch and not by sight, treat drone-flies after touching them, not in the fearless way they evince towards bluebottles (Calliphora), but in the cautious manner they display towards bees and wasps, warily refraining from coming to close quarters until their prey is securely enswathed in silk.