ab·stain

(ăb-stān′, əb-)

intr.v. ab·stained, ab·stain·ing, ab·stains

1. To keep oneself from doing, engaging in, or partaking of something; refrain: abstain from partisan political rhetoric; abstain from drinking alcohol.

2. To refrain from voting: Forty senators voted in favor of the bill, 45 voted against it, and 15 abstained.

[Middle English absteinen, to avoid, from Old French abstenir, from Latin abstinēre, to hold back : abs-, ab-, away; see ab-¹ + tenēre, to hold; see ten- in Indo-European roots.]

ab·stain′er n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	abstainer - someone who practices self denial as a spiritual discipline ascetic religious person - a person who manifests devotion to a deity puritan - someone who adheres to strict religious principles; someone opposed to sensual pleasures stylite - an early Christian ascetic who lived on top of high pillars
	2.	abstainer - a person who refrains from drinking intoxicating beverages abstinent, nondrinker individual, mortal, person, somebody, someone, soul - a human being; "there was too much for one person to do" teetotaler, teetotalist, teetotaller - a total abstainer

Translations

astemio astensionista astenuto

abstainer

[əbˈsteɪnəʳ] N

1. (= non-voter) → abstencionista mf

2. (= teetotaller) (also total abstainer) → abstemio/a m/f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

abstainer

(from alcohol) → Abstinenzler(in) m(f)

= abstention b

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

abstainer

[əbˈsteɪnəʳ] n (teetotaller) → astemio/a

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

The brandy I did not touch, for I have been an abstainer from my birth.

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But at the sad time of which I am trying to write, I was almost an abstainer, from the fear, the temptation - of seeking oblivion in strong waters.

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His political and social speeches were cataracts of anecdotes and "loud laughter"; his bodily health was of a bursting sort; his ethics were all optimism; and he dealt with the Drink problem (his favourite topic) with that immortal or even monotonous gaiety which is so often a mark of the prosperous total abstainer.

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Mr Todhunter, as has been remarked, is a quiet thrifty gentleman, essentially an abstainer. These cards and wine-cups are no part of his normal habit; they have been produced for a particular companion.

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Both men were total abstainers, and behaved in all ways as exemplary members of the society, with the one simple exception that they were assassins who had often proved themselves to be most capable instruments for this association of murder.

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For example, bans on the use of alcohol on campus may have a greater impact on an abstainer's decision to drink moderately than on a moderate drinker's decision to drink heavily.

Are there differential effects of price and policy on college students' drinking intensity?

Compared with white males, black males are almost eight times as likely to be in the multiple partner cluster rather than in the abstainer cluster.

Implications of racial and gender differences in patterns of adolescent risk behavior for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases

Thus, because our abstainer group includes both groups, the negative relationship between alcohol consumption and health care utilization may be driven by higher utilization of former drinkers.

Alcohol drinking patterns and health care utilization in a managed care organization

Each student was classified either as an abstainer, a non-binge drinker, an occasional binge drinker or a frequent binge drinker.

Alcohol usage at Francis Marion University: is there a cause for concern? (South Carolina Academy of Sciences Abstracts)

The abstainer tends to be more of a conformist, with worries and concerns about life in general and specifically about fitting in with others.

Personality characteristics as a function of frequency and type of substance use

One abstainer, NCS Treasurer Chip Beck, was voted off the board Sept.

Museum gets donations, but there's debate

Hudson News, which can be found in New York area airports, greets customers with a sign boasting that it's a "drug-free workplace," but is the newspaper you buy there any more interesting if the cashier is an abstainer rather than a stoner?

Your Urine, Please