Abstinence

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Abstinence \Ab"sti*nence\, n. [F. abstinence, L. abstinentia,
     fr. abstinere. See {Abstain}.]
     1. The act or practice of abstaining; voluntary forbearance
        of any action, especially the refraining from an
        indulgence of appetite, or from customary gratifications
        of animal or sensual propensities. Specifically, the


        practice of abstaining from intoxicating beverages, --
        called also {total abstinence}.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The abstinence from a present pleasure that offers
              itself is a pain, nay, oftentimes, a very great one.
                                                    --Locke.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. The practice of self-denial by depriving one's self of
        certain kinds of food or drink, especially of meat.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Penance, fasts, and abstinence,
              To punish bodies for the soul's offense. --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  abstinence
       n 1: the trait of abstaining (especially from alcohol) [syn: {abstention}]
       2: act or practice of refraining from indulging an appetite

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  124 Moby Thesaurus words for "abstinence":
     Albigensianism, Catharism, Encratism, Franciscanism, Friday,
     Lenten fare, Platonic love, Pythagoreanism, Pythagorism,
     Rechabitism, Sabbatarianism, Shakerism, Spartan fare, Stoicism,
     Trappism, Waldensianism, Yoga, abnegation, abstainment,
     abstemiousness, abstention, abstinence from food,
     anchoritic monasticism, anchoritism, asceticism, austerity,
     avoidance, banyan day, calm, calmness, celibacy, chastity,
     conservatism, constraint, continence, continency, control, cool,
     desuetude, dispassion, disuse, eremitism, eschewal, evenness, fast,
     fasting, fish day, flagellation, fruitarianism, gentleness,
     golden mean, gymnosophy, happy medium, impartiality, intactness,
     judiciousness, juste-milieu, lenity, maceration, maidenhead,
     maidenhood, meden agan, mendicantism, middle way, mildness,
     moderateness, moderation, moderationism, monachism, monasticism,
     mortification, nephalism, neutrality, nonemployment, nonprevalence,
     nonuse, nonviolence, nothing in excess, obsolescence, obsoleteness,
     obsoletion, obsoletism, pacifism, pensioning off, plain living,
     prudence, punishment of Tantalus, puritanism, refraining,
     refrainment, renunciation, repose, restraint,
     restriction of intake, retirement, rigor, self-abnegation,
     self-control, self-denial, self-mortification, self-restraint,
     serenity, sexual abstinence, simple diet, sobriety, spare diet,
     stability, starvation, steadiness, superannuation, teetotalism,
     temperance, temperateness, the pledge, total abstinence,
     tranquillity, unexcessiveness, unextravagance, unextremeness,
     unprevalence, vegetarianism, via media, virginity,
     voluntary poverty