Abstention

Definition: Abstention

Abstention

Noun

1. The trait of abstaining (especially from alcohol).

Date "abstention" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1790. (references)

Etymology: Abstention \Ab*sten"tion\, adjective. [French expression See Abstain.]. (Websters 1913)

Synonym: Abstention

Synonym: abstinence (n). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Avoidance	Noun: abstention, abstinence; for bearance; refraining; Verb: inaction; neutrality.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Abstention

English words defined with "abstention": sexual abstention. (references)

Specialty definitions using "abstention": Abstainer ♦ policy of anticipatory abstention from bringing criminal charges ♦ suffrage. (references)

Non-English Usage: "Abstention" is also a word in the following language with English translations in parentheses.

French (abstain, abstention, abstinence, forbearance).

Domain	Title
Books	Electoral abstention in Europe (reference) Intervention or abstention : the dilemma of American foreign policy (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Author	Date	Quotation
Treaty of Versailles	1919	Abstention from voting is to be treated as a vote against the proposal under discussion. (reference)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Lexicography	Devil's Dictionary	ABSTAINER, n. A weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure. A total abstainer is one who abstains from everything but abstention, and especially from inactivity in the affairs of others. Said a man to a crapulent youth: "I thought You a total abstainer, my son." "So I am, so I am," said the scrapgrace caught -- "But not, sir, a bigoted one." G.J.
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

"Abstention" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Abstention" is used about 98 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	100%	98	33,072

Expressions using "abstention": abstention from voting ♦ policy of anticipatory abstention from bringing criminal charges ♦ sexual abstention. Additional references.
Hypenated Usage
	Ending with "abstention": pro-abstention.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "abstention"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		abstenim (absenteeism), përkore (abstinence, continence, frugality, moderation). (various references)

Arabic		‏تقشف (abstinence, abstinent, austerity), ‏إمتناع عن (abstain), ‏إمتناع (omission, privation), ‏إمساك (hold, parsimony, qualm). (various references)

Chinese		�' (Abstain, Abstained, Abstaining). (various references)

Czech		abstence, zdrženlivost (continence, restraint), zdržení se. (various references)

Danish		undladelse,der udgør magtfordrejning (abstention which constitutes a misuse of powers). (various references)

Dutch		terughoudendheid (abstinence), onthouding (abstinence). (various references)

Esperanto		sindeteno (abstinence). (various references)

Finnish		perinnöstä luopuminen hiljaisesti. (various references)

French		abstention (abstain, abstinence). (various references)

German		Enthaltung (abstinence, forbearance), Stimmenthaltung (abstinence), Abstinenz (abstinence, teetotalism, total abstinence). (various references)

Greek		αποχή (abstinence, forbearance, offishness). (various references)

Hebrew		פרישות (abstinence, asceticism, celibacy, continence, parting), �"מ� עות (abstinence, avoidance, forbearance, omission, restraint), �"ת� זרות (abnegation, self denial). (various references)

Hungarian		tartózkodás (abidance, abstinence, aloofness, being, constraint, coyness, discretion, dwell, dwelling, residence, residency, restraint, reticence, self-restraint, shyness, sojourn, standoff, stay, staying, stopover). (various references)

Indonesian		abstensi, suara blangko. (various references)

Italian		astensione (forbearance). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		不干渉 (noninterference, nonintervention), 不参� (nonparticipation). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		ふさ�"か (nonparticipation), ふか�"しょう (noninterference, nonintervention, sexual frigidity). (various references)

Manx		obbal (abnegate; refusal, abnegation, abstain, decline, denial, denounce, denunciation, deny, disavow, disavowal, disclaim, disown, forbid, go against, jib, negate, negation, refuse, refusing, refutation, refute, self-denial, turn down, turn down refuse), faagail jeh (abstain, abstinence, keep off). (various references)

Pig Latin		abstentionay.(various references)

Portuguese		abstinência (abstinence, fast, fasting). (various references)

Romanian		abstenţiune, abţinere (forbearance, refusal), înfrânare (abstinence, bridling, restraint). (various references)

Russian		воздержание (abstinence, continence, self restraint, self-restraint). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		uzdržljivost (abstainer, let alone, reserve, restraint, stand off, temperance), uzdržavanje (continence, restraint, self restraint). (various references)

Spanish		abstención (forbearance). (various references)

Swedish		röstnedläggelse (abstinence). (various references)

Turkish		uzak durma (abstinence, aloofness, avoidance, keeping aloof, keeping away, standoff, staying away), kaçınma (abstinence, avoidance, avoiding, bolt, elusion, evasion, forbearance, sidestep, sparing), çekimser kalma (abstention from voting, non committal). (various references)

Ukranian		утримання (abstinence, aliment, alimentation, alimony, allowance, deduction, maintenance, sustentation, upkeep), відмова від голосування, невживання (abstinence, disuse). (various references)

Welsh		ymataliad (abstinence). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "abstention": abstentions. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Abstention" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: abstertion. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "abstention" (pronounced ubste"nkhun or abste"nkhun)
6	-t e" n kh u n	inattention, intention.
5	-e" n kh u n	circumvention, contravention, intervention, Nonintervention.
4	-n kh u n	luncheon, truncheon.
3	-kh u n	bastion, combustion, congestion, digestion, exhaustion, fortune, indigestion, ingestion, kitchen, misfortune, question, suggestion, urchin.
6	-t e" n kh u n	inattention, intention.
5	-e" n kh u n	circumvention, contravention, intervention, Nonintervention.
4	-n kh u n	luncheon, truncheon.
3	-kh u n	bastion, combustion, congestion, digestion, exhaustion, fortune, indigestion, ingestion, kitchen, misfortune, question, suggestion, urchin.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-b-e-i-n-n-o-s-t-t"
	-1 letter: abstinent, intonates, obstinate, sanbenito.
	-2 letters: antisnob, bonniest, botanies, botanise, botanist, enations, intonate, niobates, obeisant, sonatine, stannite, tinstone, tontines.
	-3 letters: anoints, atonies, bannets, banties, basinet, bastion, batiste, battens, benison, bistate, boniest, bonitas, bonnets, enation, inanest, instant, instate, intents, intones, nations, niobate, notates, obtains, onanist, satinet, stanine, station, tannest, tenants, tennist, tension, toniest, tontine.
	-4 letters: absent, anenst, anions, anoint, atones, bannet, basion, batons, batten, beanos, bennis, betons, bettas, binate, bionts, biotas, bitten, boites, bonita, bonnes, bonnet, bonnie, bonsai, eonian, inanes, innate, insane, intent, intone, nasion, nation, nitons, nonets, notate, obtain, obtest, sabine, sennit, sienna, sitten, sobeit, sonant, sonnet, stotin, taints, tanist, tenant, tenias, tennis, tenons, teston, tineas, tisane, titans, tobies, tonnes.
	-5 letters: abets, aeons, anent, anion, anise, antes, antis, atone, baits, banes, banns, basin, baste, bates, baton, batts, beano, beans, beast, beats, benni, bents, besot, betas, beton, betta, bines, bints, biont, biota, bison, bites, bitts, boast, boats, boite, bones, bonne, botas, botts, ebons, entia, eosin, etnas, inane, inset, iotas, nabes, nabis, nates, neats, neist, neons, netts, nines, nites, niton, noise, nonas, nones, nonet, notes, oaten, obias, obits, onset, ostia, sabin, sabot, saint, santo, satin, senna, senti, seton, stain, stane, state, stein, steno, stint, stoae, stoai, stoat, stone, tabes, tains, taint, tanto, taste, tates, teats, tenia, tenon, tents, testa, tinea, tines, tints, titan, toast, toeas, toits, tones, tonne, totes.
	Words containing the letters "a-b-e-i-n-n-o-s-t-t"
	+1 letter: abstentions, obtainments.
	+3 letters: antiobscenity, ethnobotanies, ethnobotanist, incontestable, incontestably, obstinateness.
	+4 letters: ethnobotanists, subcontinental.
	+5 letters: antiobscenities, nonbarbiturates, obstinatenesses, pentobarbitones.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.