0 past simple and past participle of abstain --
1 to not do something, especially something enjoyable that you think might be bad: --
To prevent close pregnancies completely though not always intentionally, man in pre-industrial societies abstained from intercourse for varying periods.
In 1958 the numbers were little better : 33.9 per cent registered but of those 13.9 abstained from voting.
Agalev abstained because it felt the resolutions hinted at a confederal rather than a federal model.
The second group includes those who were members of the institution at the time of both divisions, but who abstained on one or other ballot.
Only 34 per cent said that they would vote for it, while 44 per cent would vote against (the rest didn't know or abstained).
They had different mentalities and abstained as much as possible from social responsibilities.
Secondly, the revolutionary alliance found itself increasingly caught between two forces which either actively opposed the process or aggressively abstained from it.
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.
