(v. i.) To hold one's self aloof; to forbear or refrain voluntarily, and especially from an indulgence of the passions or appetites; -- with from.
(v. t.) To hinder; to withhold.
Example Sentences:
(1) Also critical to Mr Smith's victory was the decision over lunch of the MSF technical union's delegation to abstain on the rule changes.
(2) Abstainer rates in the total population controlled for treatment decreased with increasing WPY (P less than 0.005).
(3) The adjusted odds ratio of having one or more hospitalization for current drinkers relative to life-long abstainers in females was 0.67 (95 per cent confidence interval 0.57-0.79) and in males was 0.74 (0.57-0.96).
(4) Britain and France formally announced this week they would abstain, along with Portugal and Bosnia.
(5) Although close to 50% of this sample were abstainers, 11% of the drinkers were found to be heavy drinkers, averaging more than two drinks daily, while 18% were high-maximum drinkers, consuming at least five drinks on an occasion prior to pregnancy.
(6) Compared to abstainers, the heaviest drinkers had the highest systolic (JM, p = 0.001; WM, p less than 0.01) and diastolic (JM, p less than 0.002; WM, p less than 0.05) blood pressures.
(7) The Labour leadership is understood to be pressing for its MPs to abstain on the grounds that the party’s policy is under review and the real vote on Trident will come in the decisive “main gate” decision on renewal next year.
(8) But the prime minister failed to win the support of more than half of his 303 MPs after 136 Tories rejected the measure and around 40 Tory MPs either did not vote or actively abstained.
(9) 36% of the group had abstained from further drug taking, 27% were taking them periodically, 32% had to be treated again and 5% had deteriorated (trend towards invalidism).
(10) Their occurrence rules out any organic involvement almost with certainty, and allows abstaining from additional examinations, or keeping them within minimum limits.
(11) They all abstain from social media for fear of getting embroiled in some brouhaha.
(12) Heidi Allen, the Conservative MP for South Cambridgeshire, abstained in last week’s vote but said she and others would defy the party whip if concessions were not offered.
(13) Fourteen months later, 41 subjects (41%) were classified as resumers; 62 (59%) were abstainers.
(14) This finding indicates that many young people exaggerate the risk of losing status among their peers because they abstain from drinking.
(15) At their explosive 80-minute meeting, the union's delegates - who hold 4.5 per cent of the vote - voted by 19-17 to abstain because the OMOV rule change included a further measure promoting more women MPs, one of the union's longstanding causes.
(16) All subjects had been instructed to abstain from smoking for at least 10 h before and during the examination.
(17) The CDC and other health agencies have been operating for months on the assumption that Zika causes brain defects, and they have been warning pregnant women to use mosquito repellent, avoid travel to Zika-stricken regions and either abstain from sex or rely on condoms.
(18) On same-sex marriage, Leadsom said she supported partnerships between gay couples but had reservations about the legislation that led her to abstain during the parliamentary vote.
(19) The salivary cotinine concentration after 1 week in 60 abstainers was 183 ng.ml-1.
(20) Never smoking abstainers die at about the same rate as never smoking moderate drinkers.
Postponement
Definition:
(n.) The act of postponing; a deferring, or putting off, to a future time; a temporary delay.
Example Sentences:
(1) The purpose was to show whether or not the methylene-blue test can be postponed to the second day.
(2) Amid all of the worry about her health, the difficult decisions around the surgery, and how to explain everything to the children, the practicalities of postponing the holiday was a relatively minor consideration.
(3) He also challenged Lord Mandelson's claim this morning that a controversial vote on Royal Mail would have to be postponed due to lack of parliamentary time.
(4) Two additional patients became asymptomatic after ECA endarterectomy only and their proposed STA-MCA bypass has been postponed.
(5) Smith manages to get a suspended possession order, postponing eviction, provided Evans (who has a new job) pays her rent on time and pays back her arrears at a rate of £5 a week.
(6) Squirrel monkeys trained to respond under a schedule in which each response postponed the delivery of electric shock developed a steady rate of responding.
(7) When dose 3 of antigen (BSA or EA) was postponed to day +21, all mouse strains sensitized by the multiple-dose procedure were found to be susceptible to shock.
(8) Thus, the clinical threshold where functions disappear is postponed for longer periods of time.
(9) He was due to unveil the plan next week but the announcement was postponed when one of his deputies, Ray Lewis, was forced to stand down on Friday, following allegations of financial irregularities and inappropriate behaviour.
(10) MPs have voted to abandon the controversial badger cull in England entirely, inflicting an embarrassing defeat on ministers who had already been forced to postpone the start of the killing until next summer.
(11) Every time we have a negotiation, the bidding process (for the project) slows and postpones things.” Water quality has become a hot-button issue as the Olympics draw closer with little sign of progress in cleaning up the fetid bay, as well as the lagoon system in western Rio that hugs the sites of the Olympic park, the very heart of the games.
(12) Its consequences are extensive, damaging procedures and a postponement of a diagnosis which integrates somatic, psychic and social components by seven to eight years.
(13) As for Halloween : The big parade in Greenwich Village has been postponed until next week.
(14) Pretreatment with nifedipine postponed EMD until 120-150 seconds and was not observed in dogs on CPB.
(15) The French president, François Hollande, summoned key ministers to a crisis meeting on Thursday afternoon, postponing a planned visit to France's Indian Ocean territories.
(16) Gerrard genuinely has postponed the issue while he pours his life into this tournament.
(17) The Nepalese government has announced that it has postponed a return to classes for schoolchildren across the country by two weeks, to 29 May.
(18) It is believed that support for Bernstein's attempt to postpone the election came from these areas, in reaction to the process that led to Bin Hammam's exclusion from football activity, rather than being a demonstration of anger at the effect of recent corruption allegations.
(19) The basic enviromental causes of enteric disease are clear, current conditions have been aggravated by rapid population growth and urbanization, and basic corrective measures have already been postponed long enough.
(20) "Had Obama even an iota of ethics and morality, he should have postponed or shelved his trip," it said.