Abstemious & Abstinent
The adjective abstemious means 'sparing in
consumption of food and drink, not self-indulgent'. The word comes from the
Latin abstemius from ab-, abs-, 'away from' + temetum, 'alcoholic drink'.
Abstinent comes from a different Latin word, abstinere, 'to abstain', from ab-,
abs-, 'away from', + tenere, 'to hold'. It means 'denying one's appetites
completely; doing without'.
The noun derived from abstemious is
abstemiousness; abstinent has two related nouns-abstinence and abstention.
Abstention, unlike abstinence, has no suggestion of denying the appetites: it
refers simply to refraining from something-a single act of abstaining(commonly,
abstaining from voting). Abstinence suggests continuous abstaining (as from
drink).
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