abstention

English

Etymology

First attested in 1521. Borrowed from French abstention, from Late Latin abstēntiō from Latin abstinēō (“withhold, to abstain”)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əbˈstɛn.ʃn̩/
• (US) IPA^(key): /æbˈstɛn.ʃn̩/, /əbˈstɛn.ʃn̩/, /æbˈstɛn.t͡ʃn̩/, /əbˈstɛn.t͡ʃn̩/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

abstention (countable and uncountable, plural abstentions)

1. (obsolete) The act of restraining oneself. [Attested from the early 16^th century until the med 17^th century.]
2. The act of abstaining or refraining (from). [First attested in the early 17^th century.]

   abstention from alcohol

   abstention from sex

3. The act of declining to vote on a particular issue. [First attested in the late 19^th century.]

   There were five abstentions in the vote.

4. Non-participation in the political world; as a country avoiding international affairs.

Derived terms

• abstention doctrine
• abstentionism
• abstentionist
• abstentious
• nonabstention

 

Translations

the act of abstaining

• Bulgarian: въздържаност (bg) (vǎzdǎržanost)
• Catalan: abstenció f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 棄權／弃权 (zh) (qìquán) (failing to exercise a right), 戒除 (zh) (jièchú) (bad habits), 戒酒 (zh) (jièjiǔ) (alcohol), 禁酒 (zh) (jìnjiǔ) (alcohol)

• Dutch: onthouding (nl) f, abstinentie (nl) f
• Esperanto: sindeteno, abstino
• Finnish: pidättäytyminen (fi)
• French: abstention (fr) f
• German: Enthaltung (de) f
• Hebrew: הימנעו f ((himan'ut)
• Hungarian: tartózkodás (hu)
• Interlingua: abstention
• Italian: astensione (it)
• Japanese: 慎むこと (ja) (つつしむこと, tsutsushimu koto), 禁酒 (ja) (きんしゅ, kinshu) (alcohol), 棄権 (ja) (きけん, kiken) (failing to exercise a right), 不参加 (ja) (ふさんか, fusanka) (non-participation)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: avhold n

• Polish: abstynencja (pl) f
• Portuguese: abstenção (pt) f
• Romanian: abținere (ro) f
• Russian: воздержа́ние (ru) n (vozderžánije), возде́ржанность (ru) f (vozdéržannostʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: seachnadh m
• Spanish: abstención (es) f
• Turkish: çekimserlik (tr)

See also

• abstinence

References

• Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “abstention”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 9.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin abstentiōnem, from Latin abstentus, from abstineō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ap.stɑ̃.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

abstention f (plural abstentions)

1. abstention

Descendants

• → English: abstention

Related terms

• abstenir
• abstinence

Further reading

• “abstention”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.