[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

abstinence \ab"stinence\, n. f. abstinence, l. abstinentia,
   fr. abstinere. see abstain.
   1. 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.
      1913 webster

            the abstinence from a present pleasure that offers
            itself is a pain, nay, oftentimes, a very great one.
                                                  --locke.
      1913 webster

   2. the practice of self-denial by depriving one's self of
      certain kinds of food or drink, especially of meat.
      1913 webster

            penance, fasts, and abstinence,
            to punish bodies for the soul's offense. --dryden.
      1913 webster
see also:
abstain total abstinence 

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

abstinence
     n 1: the trait of abstaining especially from alcohol syn: abstention
     2: act or practice of refraining from indulging an appetite
see also:
abstention 

[3] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

124 moby thesaurus words for "abstinence":
   albigensianism, catharism, encratism, franciscanism, friday,
   lenten fare, platonic love, pythagoreanism, pythagorism,
   rechabitism, sabbatarianism, shakerism, spartan fare, stoicism,
   trappism, waldensianism, yoga, abnegation, abstainment,
   abstemiousness, abstention, abstinence from food,
   anchoritic monasticism, anchoritism, asceticism, austerity,
   avoidance, banyan day, calm, calmness, celibacy, chastity,
   conservatism, constraint, continence, continency, control, cool,
   desuetude, dispassion, disuse, eremitism, eschewal, evenness, fast,
   fasting, fish day, flagellation, fruitarianism, gentleness,
   golden mean, gymnosophy, happy medium, impartiality, intactness,
   judiciousness, juste-milieu, lenity, maceration, maidenhead,
   maidenhood, meden agan, mendicantism, middle way, mildness,
   moderateness, moderation, moderationism, monachism, monasticism,
   mortification, nephalism, neutrality, nonemployment, nonprevalence,
   nonuse, nonviolence, nothing in excess, obsolescence, obsoleteness,
   obsoletion, obsoletism, pacifism, pensioning off, plain living,
   prudence, punishment of tantalus, puritanism, refraining,
   refrainment, renunciation, repose, restraint,
   restriction of intake, retirement, rigor, self-abnegation,
   self-control, self-denial, self-mortification, self-restraint,
   serenity, sexual abstinence, simple diet, sobriety, spare diet,
   stability, starvation, steadiness, superannuation, teetotalism,
   temperance, temperateness, the pledge, total abstinence,
   tranquillity, unexcessiveness, unextravagance, unextremeness,
   unprevalence, vegetarianism, via media, virginity,
   voluntary poverty

Abstinence >> A Words
Abstinence, definition of term: Abstinence
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