Sample Sentences for
abstain
grouped by contextual meaning
(editor-reviewed)

abstain as in:  abstained from alcohol

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I abstain from alcohol
abstain = refrain (in this case choose not to drink)
Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
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    The monk abstained from all worldly pleasures in order to focus on his spiritual practice.
    abstained = refrained (chose not to)
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    The athlete abstained from eating junk food in order to stay in peak physical condition.
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    Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact.  (source)
    abstains = refrains (chooses not to)
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Show 10 more with 6 word variations
  • •
    But I have just enough sense left to abstain.  (source)
    abstain = not drink
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    I had been accustomed, during the night, to steal a part of their store for my own consumption, but when I found that in doing this I inflicted pain on the cottagers, I abstained and satisfied myself with berries, nuts, and roots which I gathered from a neighbouring wood.  (source)
    abstained = chose not to do that
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    Aside from diligently taking his medications and abstaining from alcohol, Jared, for the most part, now lived the life of an ordinary twenty-one-year-old.  (source)
    abstaining = keeping away (choosing not to do something)
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    I don't know if the hose were clean, but I do notice that everyone on the show abstains from drinking lemonade that day.†  (source)
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    He was a total abstainer and a nonsmoker, had no recreations except a daily hour in the gymnasium, and had taken a vow of celibacy, believing marriage and the care of a family to be incompatible with a twenty-four-hour-a-day devotion to duty.  (source)
    abstainer = non-drinker (of alcohol)
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    All my family are abstainers.†  (source)
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    I believe that every man who has ever been earnest to preserve his higher or poetic faculties in the best condition has been particularly inclined to abstain from animal food, and from much food of any kind….  (source)
    abstain = not eat
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    As a result Diana had abstained from any further imitative flights of imagination and did not think it prudent to cultivate a spirit of belief even in harmless dryads.  (source)
    abstained = refrained (chose not to do something)
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    Shiftman's definition of a chipper is someone who smokes no more than five cigarettes a day but who smokes at least four days a week. ... reportedly experienced almost no withdrawal symptoms when abstaining from smoking. ... In short, every indicator examined suggests that chippers are not addicted to nicotine...  (source)
    abstaining = keeping away (choosing not to do something)
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    "The queen abstains," said Eugenides shortly.†  (source)
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abstain as in:  12 votes yes and 3 abstained

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She abstained from the vote because her sister was bidding for the job.
abstained = chose not to vote (so that other voters made the decision)
Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
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    The senator abstained from the vote due to a concern about the appearance of a conflict of interest.
    abstained = chose not to vote
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    "No one may abstain from the vote," says Coin.  (source)
    abstain = formally not vote (so that other voters will make the decision)
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    I'll abstain.  (source)
    abstain = formally not vote either "yes" or "no" (so that other voters will make the decision)
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Show 3 more with 2 word variations
  • •
    "All in favor?" To my surprise, a lot of hands went up. Dionysus abstained.  (source)
    abstained = did not vote
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    I guess that's two votes to one, Danny abstains.  (source)
    abstains = keeps away (chooses not to do something)
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    She was supported by Harriet Vanger; Malm abstained.  (source)
    abstained = chose not to vote
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