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abstemious. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
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English
Etymology
From Latin abstēmius (“abstaining from wine”); from ab, abs (“from”) + tēmus, a root of tēmētum (“intoxicating drink, especially strong mead or wine”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *temH- (“dark (referring to the colour of wine)”)) + -ous.[1]
Pronunciation
Adjective
abstemious (comparative more abstemious, superlative most abstemious)
- Refraining from freely consuming food or strong drink; sparing in diet; abstinent, temperate.
- Synonyms: abstinent, sober, temperate; see also Thesaurus:abstemious
1650, Thomas Browne, “Of the Cameleon”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: , 2nd edition, London: A Miller, for Edw Dod and Nath Ekins, , →OCLC, 3rd book, page 133:It cannot be denied it [the chameleon] is (if not the moſt of any) a very abſtemious animall, and ſuch as by reaſon of its frigidity, paucity of bloud, and latitancy in the winter (about which time the obſervations are often made) will long ſubſist without a viſible ſuſtentation.
1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, .”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: J M for John Starkey , →OCLC, page 42, lines 637–638:Under his ſpecial eie / Abſtemious I [Samson] grew up and thriv'd amain; / He led me on to mightieſt deeds / Above the nerve of mortal arm / Againſt the uncircumciſ'd, our enemies.
1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter IV, in The Last Man. , volume I, London: Henry Colburn, , →OCLC, page 148:[…] I, abstemious naturally, and rendered so by the fever that preyed on me, was forced to recruit myself with food.
, “The Living Skeleton”, in
Curiosities of Biography, Or Memoirs of Remarkable Men, Glasgow: Printed for
Richard Griffin & Company,
→OCLC,
page 285:
On turning around, I was instantly rivetted by his amazing emaciation; he seemed another "Lazarus, come forth" without his grave-clothes, […] Below the ribs, the trunk so immediately curves in, that the red band of the silk covering, though it is only loosely placed, seems a tourniquet to constrict the bowels within their prison-house, and the hip-bones, being of their natural size, the waist is like a wasp's. By this part of the frame we are reminded of some descriptions of the abstemious and Bedouin Arab of the desert, in whom it is said the abdomen seems to cling to the vertbræ.- ]
2003, Gabriel García Márquez, chapter 4, in Edith Grossman, transl., Living to Tell the Tale, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, page 228:The other duel, which occurred much earlier but was indelible in the town's memory, was the one between Plinio Balmaceda and Dionisiano Barrios. The first was a member of an old and respectable family, an enormous, charming man but also a troublemaker with a wicked temper when he crossed paths with alcohol. […] Dionisiano Barrios was just the opposite: a timid, impaired man, an enemy of brawls and abstemious by nature.
Sparing in the indulgence of the appetite or passions.
- Synonyms: abstentious, continent; see also Thesaurus:self-abnegatory, Thesaurus:temperate
2010, Rebecca L. Davis, “Sacred Partnerships”, in More Perfect Unions: The American Search for Marital Bliss, Cambridge, Mass., London: Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 149:The Ms had an abstemious sex life; in fourteen years of marriage, they had had sex exactly six times. Mrs. M desired sex and more children, but her husband refused.
Sparingly used; used with temperance or moderation.
- Synonyms: frugal, sparing; see also Thesaurus:frugal
- Antonyms: extravagant, squandering; see also Thesaurus:prodigal
1842, John Reitch, “ EPILEPSY.”, in Gibbons Merle, John Reitch, The Domestic Dictionary and Housekeeper’s Manual: Comprising Everything Related to Cookery, Diet, Economy and Medicine. By Gibbons Merle. The Medical Portion of the Work by John Reitch, M.D., London: William Strange, 21, Paternoster Row, →OCLC, page 360, column 2:If the predisposition to the disease has arisen from a plethoric state of the system, or from a turgescence in the vessels of the head, this is to be obviated by bleeding, both generally and topically, but more particularly the latter; an abstemious diet and proper exercise; and by a seton in the neck.
Marked by, or spent in, abstinence.
- Synonym: temperate
an abstemious life
1720, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “Book XIX”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume V, London: W Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott , →OCLC, page 170, lines 325–328:If yet Achilles have a Friend, whoſe Care / Is bent to pleaſe him; this Requeſt forbear: / Till yonder Sun deſcend, ah let me pay / To Grief and Anguiſh one abſtemious Day.
(rare) Promotive of abstemiousness.
1700, Dryden, “Of the Pythagorean Philosophy. From Ovid’s Metamorphoses Book XV”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; , London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC, page 521:But ſtranger Virtues yet in Streams we find, / Some change not only Bodies, but the Mind: / […] Clytorian Streams the love of Wine expel, / (Such is the virtue of th' abſtemious Well;) […]
Derived terms
Translations
refraining from freely consuming food or strong drink
- Bulgarian: въздъ́ржан (bg) (vǎzdǎ́ržan), скро́мен (bg) (skrómen)
- Catalan: abstemi (ca)
- Dutch: matig (nl), karig (nl), frugaal (nl)
- Finnish: kohtuullinen (fi), pidättyvä (fi)
- Galician: abstemio m, abstemia f
- German: enthaltsam (de)
- Greek: εγκρατής (el) (egkratís)
- Italian: astemio (it)
- Japanese: 禁欲的 (ja) (きんよくてき, kinyokuteki)
- Latin: abstēmius
- Russian: возде́ржанный (ru) (vozdéržannyj), уме́ренный (ru) (umérennyj), скро́мный (ru) (skrómnyj)
- Spanish: abstemio (es), sobrio (es)
- Swedish: avhållsam (sv), återhållsam (sv), måttfull (sv)
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sparing in the indulgence of the appetite or passions
sparingly used; used with temperance or moderation
marked by, or spent in, abstinence
References