What's the difference between abstain and withhold?

Abstain


Definition:

  • (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.

Withhold


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To hold back; to restrain; to keep from action.
  • (v. t.) To retain; to keep back; not to grant; as, to withhold assent to a proposition.
  • (v. t.) To keep; to maintain; to retain.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) It is concluded that there is no pharmacokinetic indiction for withholding OCs from women with early active schistosomiasis who are concurrently receiving antischistosmal drugs.
  • (2) Already the demand for such a liturgy is growing among clergy, who are embarrassed by having to withhold the church's official support from so many of their own flock who are in civil partnerships.
  • (3) "The default switch should be set to release information unless there is an extremely good reason for withholding it.".
  • (4) Iowa senator Chuck Grassley, the Republican who chairs the Senate judiciary committee, introduced legislation on Tuesday that would crack down on jurisdictions that provide safe harbor for undocumented migrants by withholding some federal funding for state and local entities if they decline to cooperate with the government on the holding or transferring of undocumented migrants with criminal records.
  • (5) In the stringent E. coli, strain 15 TAU (thymine-arginine-uracil) rel A+ (arginine), withholding thymine did not affect the rate of killing.
  • (6) The Natural Death Act amendments authorize the withholding and withdrawal of life-sustaining procedures from patients with incurable or irreversible conditions if death will result within a relatively short time without use of such procedures.
  • (7) Recent activities by some to decry clinical trials as unethical and restrict their conduct results in the totally unacceptable situation of withholding potentially valuable treatments from patients or subjecting patients to the unnecessary risks of treatments not proven safe and efficacious.
  • (8) While ethicists view the withholding and withdrawing of life-supporting treatment as morally equivalent, physicians tend to make a distinction based on the perceived locus of moral responsibility for the patient's death.
  • (9) It is argued that the evidence for withholding rifampicin from use in short courses against non-tuberculous infections is slight.
  • (10) Dear British public, be outraged, act, withhold your money until you can have confidence in what you consume.
  • (11) These findings support the construct and predictive diagnostic validity of nonfearful panic disorder as a subtype of panic disorder and suggest that a lack of attention to this group leads to both the underestimation of the prevalence of panic disorder and to the withholding of potentially successful treatments for this group.
  • (12) Kenyan human rights lawyers described how potential witnesses have been cajoled and bullied into withholding their testimony.
  • (13) We found that 26% of 508 neurons in both parts of the striatum were activated during the presentation of visual signals which prepared the animals for the execution or withholding of individual arm reaching movements.
  • (14) The Financial Reporting Council also asked for views on companies being able to recover or withhold bonuses from top directors and to explain when publishing the votes at annual meetings how they intend to head off any rebellions in the future.
  • (15) This study was performed to assess the prevalence of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in consecutive obstetric patients with clinical symptoms of DVT, using impedance plethysmography (IPG) as the diagnostic method and to establish the safety of withholding anticoagulant therapy in patients with a repeatedly normal IPG.
  • (16) The daily newspaper Haaretz reported on Saturday that Israel had decided to withhold the taxes it collects for the Palestinians under the current interim peace accords and transfers each month to the Palestinian Authority.
  • (17) Results show that this method of attachment is reliable and strong enough to withhold forces exceeding those necessary to break or tear the cell.
  • (18) This information was transmitted to a hospital-based telemetry physician who diagnosed or excluded acute myocardial infarction and made a mock decision to withhold or administer a thrombolytic agent.
  • (19) Neurons were found which remained active during the time period for which the monkey had to withhold eye movements while remembering desired target locations.
  • (20) Among a "toolbox" of actions under consideration are: • full or partial annulment of the Oslo Accords, under which the Palestinian Authority (PA) was established • withholding tax revenues Israel collects on behalf of the PA • cancellation of permits for thousands of Palestinian labourers to work in Israel • withdrawal of travel privileges for senior PA officials • acceleration of building programmes in West Bank settlements • unilateral annexation of the main Jewish settlement blocks.