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Definition
choosing not to do something — typically refraining from something such as alcohol or sex for self-benefit- And so they lived in their prayers, and fastings, and great abstinence.Thomas Malory -- Le Morte D'Arthur
- What they cared about was convincing Hans Castorp to renounce his abstinence.Thomas Mann -- The Magic Mountain
- Abstinence, confession, communion, baptism, mass—take your pick—choose whatever combination pleases you and ignore the rest.Dan Brown -- The Da Vinci Code
- Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder.Margaret Atwood -- The Handmaid's Tale
- As Shiftman writes: Chippers' smoking varies considerably from day to day, and their smoking patterns often include days of complete abstinence.Malcolm Gladwell -- The Tipping Point
- I give you leave," returned Laurie, who enjoyed having someone to tease, after his long abstinence from his favorite pastime.Louisa May Alcott -- Little Women
- But the president has been the picture of abstinence, neither smoking a cigar nor taking a sip of alcohol.Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard -- Killing Kennedy
- He spoke to Abra of the necessity for abstinence and decided that he would live a life of celibacy.John Steinbeck -- East of Eden
- She didn't seem like the woman who ripped the cable box out of the wall or lectured us for hours on the virtues of abstinence.Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl -- Beautiful Creatures
- I wasn't sold on his life of abstinence, and I resented him for curbing my appetite.Stephenie Meyer -- Twilight
- To the average person, such abstinence doesn't sound difficult, let alone heroic.W. William Winokur -- The Perfect Game
- You wish a real leave of abstinence.F. Scott Fitzgerald -- Tender is the Night
- My abstinence felt noble because it was so very difficult.Abraham Verghese -- Cutting for Stone
- Your stomachs are too young, And abstinence engenders maladies.William Shakespeare -- Love's Labour's Lost
- The Bush administration focused its AIDS prevention campaign on abstinence-only programs.Nicholas D. Kristof -- Half the Sky
- "4 "What deity does Amaterasu worship in abstinence in the Plain of High Heaven?Joseph Campbell -- The Hero With a Thousand Faces
- The Enemy's demand on humans takes the form of a dilemma; either complete abstinence or unmitigated monogamy.C.S. Lewis -- The Screwtape Letters
- Now gripping this, hefting a pair of spears, he joined the battle, formidable as some hill-bred lion, ravenous for meat after long abstinence.Homer -- The Iliad
- Fernanda carried a delicate calendar with small golden keys on which her spiritual adviser had marked in purple ink the dates of venereal abstinence.Gabriel Garcia Marquez -- One Hundred Years of Solitude
- After a period of computer celibacy, she was suffering from massive cyber-abstinence.Stieg Larsson -- The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest