ABSTAIN in a Sentence

Learn ABSTAIN from example sentences; some of them are from classic books. These examples are selected from a corpus with 300,000 sentences, including classic works and current mainstream media. Some sentences also link to their contexts.

22 example sentences for ABSTAIN, such as:

1. The first step to virtue is to abstain from vice.
2. He took a vow to abstain from alcohol/smoking/sex.
3. His doctor ordered him to abstain from beer and wine.
4. In the meanwhile, he abstained from touching that money.
5. He still abstained from addressing Jean Valjean as thou.

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 Meanings and Examples of ABSTAIN
Definition Example Sentence Classic Sentence
abstain
 v.  refrain; hold oneself back voluntarily from an action or practice
Classic Sentence:
1  To abstain from threats and injurious language, is, methinks, one of the wisest precautions a man can use.
Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius By Niccolo Machiavelli
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 2: CHAPTER XXVI.
2  From such conspiracies, therefore, as are directed against more heads than one, all should abstain; for no good is to be got from them, whether for ourselves, for our country, or for any one else.
Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius By Niccolo Machiavelli
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 3: CHAPTER VI.
3  It makes him hated above all things, as I have said, to be rapacious, and to be a violator of the property and women of his subjects, from both of which he must abstain.
The Prince By Niccolo Machiavelli
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XIX — THAT ONE SHOULD AVOID BEING DESPISED AND HA...
4  Satisfied that the cause was now on a footing the most proper and hopeful, Sir Thomas resolved to abstain from all farther importunity with his niece, and to shew no open interference.
Mansfield Park By Jane Austen
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXXIII
5  I was careful, however, to show no concern and to abstain from any pursuit of them, and in the course of a day or two things got back to the old footing.
The Time Machine By H. G. Wells
Context  Highlight   In V
6  He promised to abstain from smoking, chewing, and profanity as long as he remained a member.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer By Mark Twain
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXII
7  Boris, speaking with deliberation, told them in pure, correct French many interesting details about the armies and the court, carefully abstaining from expressing an opinion of his own about the facts he was recounting.
War and Peace 2 By Leo Tolstoy
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 5: CHAPTER VI
8  But I am not now abstaining from doing so at the first moment when I asked the question.
War and Peace 6 By Leo Tolstoy
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 17: CHAPTER X
9  He exerted preterhuman self-denial in abstaining from finishing him completely; but getting out of breath, he finally desisted, and dragged the apparently inanimate body on to the settle.
Wuthering Heights By Emily Bronte
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XVII
10  There were at the time as many reasons for the step as against it, and there was no overbalancing consideration to outweigh his invariable rule of abstaining when in doubt.
Anna Karenina 2 By Leo Tolstoy
Context  Highlight   In PART 5: Chapter 21
11  He refused to see him, as he passed through on his return from the island of Elba, and he abstained from ordering public prayers for the Emperor in his diocese during the Hundred Days.
Les Misérables 1 By Victor Hugo
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 1: CHAPTER XI—A RESTRICTION
12  He still abstained from addressing Jean Valjean as thou.
Les Misérables 5 By Victor Hugo
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 3: CHAPTER IX—MARIUS PRODUCES ON SOME ONE WHO IS A JUDGE OF ...
13  In the meanwhile, he abstained from touching that money.
Les Misérables 5 By Victor Hugo
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 9: CHAPTER I—PITY FOR THE UNHAPPY, BUT INDULGENCE FOR THE HA...
14  Whether or not Venn abstained from riding thither because he had met Thomasin in the same place might easily have been guessed from her proceedings about two months later in the same year.
Return of the Native By Thomas Hardy
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 6: 2 Thomasin Walks in a Green Place by the Roman Road
15  That I did not lift my arm a moment later does not prove that I could have abstained from lifting it then.
War and Peace 6 By Leo Tolstoy
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 17: CHAPTER X
Example Sentence:
1  His doctor ordered him to abstain from beer and wine.
2  The first step to virtue is to abstain from vice.
3  Patrons are requested to abstain from smoking in the restaurant.
4  He took a vow to abstain from alcohol/smoking/sex.
5  After considering the effect of alcohol on his athletic performance, he decided to abstain from drinking while he trained for the race.
6  If moderators try to abstain, they feel trapped and rebellious.
7  Six countries voted for the change, five voted against, and two abstained.