Abstinence

How to spell abstinence

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce abstinence

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does abstinence mean?

1. nounThe practice of deliberately refraining from something, especially alcohol, food, or sexual activity.

Abstinence in a sentence

• The clinic recommends total abstinence from alcohol during the treatment.

• His doctor linked the recovery to months of strict abstinence from rich food.

Where does abstinence come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb abstinere, meaning 'to hold back' or 'to keep away from', which was built from abs- 'away from' and tenere 'to hold'. The related Latin noun abstinentia described the act of refraining from something, especially food, drink, or pleasure. English took the word in the 1300s by way of Old French abstinence, and it long carried strong religious overtones of fasting and self-denial before broadening to any deliberate refusal. The same tenere root, meaning 'to hold', hides inside a whole family of familiar words such as 'retain', 'contain', and 'tenant', and recognising that buried 'tin' from tenere can help fix the middle of the spelling. The trickiest part for writers is the unstressed middle vowel and the -ence ending, both of which sound vaguer than they look.

How the word is built

• abs- (away from)
• tin (from Latin tenere: to hold)
• -ence (noun-forming suffix)