ABSTINENCE • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Abstinence

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/ˈæbstənəns/ Listen

noun

Abstinence n.

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. "The abstinence from a present pleasure that offers itself is a pain, nay, oftentimes, a very great one."

The practice of self-denial by depriving one's self of certain kinds of food or drink, especially of meat. "Penance, fasts, and abstinence, To punish bodies for the soul's offense."

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Etymology of 'Abstinence'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Abstinence" Quotes from Famous Books

... danger lest it should come to naught, as S. Antony says. Hence one Religious Order is not superior to another because its observances are stricter, but because its observances are directed to the end of that Order with greater discretion. Thus, for example, abstinence from food and drink, which means hunger and thirst, are more efficacious means for preserving chastity than wearing less clothing, which means cold and nakedness; more efficacious, too, than ...

— On Prayer and The Contemplative Life • St. Thomas Aquinas

... added several extracts from the general rules of the Methodist Societies; particularly those which refer to the use of time, the government of the tongue, reading the Scriptures, private prayer, and abstinence. ...

— Religion in Earnest - A Memorial of Mrs. Mary Lyth, of York • John Lyth

... threatened first by the entire loss of it, next with the prospect of a crooked leg, but he bore cheerfully the most excruciating torture in having it straightened by a series of painful experiments, and in no long time he recovered his activity. In the army he showed his strength of will by rigid abstinence from drinking and gambling, no easy feat in those days; and he learned by his father's example to control all extravagance and to live contentedly on a small allowance. His earliest enthusiasm among books was for Plutarch's Lives, the favourite reading of so many great commanders. ...

— Victorian Worthies - Sixteen Biographies • George Henry Blore

... artless feast, and this the simple fare of which you invited me to partake?" "Imogen," replied the principal nymph, "we were willing to do you honour, and the preparation we have made is slight compared with that which the roof can afford. We considered your fatigue and your extraordinary abstinence, and we were willing to compensate them by pleasant ...

— Imogen - A Pastoral Romance • William Godwin

... scrofulous and the halt, they should no longer visit their temples and sacred groves, and admire no more Pan's huge sexuality and hang garlands upon it, nor carve images of Diana and Apollo. Such abstinence they could not comprehend, and deemed it enough that they were ready to proclaim him a god on the occasion of every great miracle, a readiness that gave great scandal and caused many Jews to turn away from Jesus. It was not enough that he should ...

— The Brook Kerith - A Syrian story • George Moore

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