0 past simple and past participle of abstain
1 to not do something, especially something enjoyable that you think might be bad:
Most city dwellers did not bother to pass by - they simply abstained.
Although these groups of adolescents were similar in that they abstained from substance use, their reasons for abstaining were unique to each group.
Which girls abstained from these games, or varied them?
The sole television channel, on the air since 1954, completely abstained from political programmes and editorials.
He has cut his salary, abstained from alcohol, worked absurdly long hours, and shared the presidential residence with members of his cabinet.
If they had abstained from manipulation, we would have been able to detect all individual cases of cancer that had resulted from their actions.
Indeed, it may well have been pressure-group activity that brought pro-abolitionists into the division lobbies in 1956 after having abstained in 1955.
But rather than explaining what constituted them as old, she relied on a shared understanding of old age and thus abstained from providing any explanation.
