What's the difference between refrain and stifle?

Refrain


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To hold back; to restrain; to keep within prescribed bounds; to curb; to govern.
  • (v. t.) To abstain from
  • (v. i.) To keep one's self from action or interference; to hold aloof; to forbear; to abstain.
  • (v.) The burden of a song; a phrase or verse which recurs at the end of each of the separate stanzas or divisions of a poetic composition.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) In partial reshunting on the background of considerable improvement in hemodynamics and the general condition of the patient, one may refrain from carrying out an operation again and continue dynamik observation of the patient.
  • (2) The Kremlin has so far refrained from dealing with mounting anger against people from Russia's turbulent North Caucasus region, as well as migrant workers from central Asia, which has grown as the country's oil-fuelled economic boom has given way to the hardship of the global financial crisis.
  • (3) The son of the slain Afghan police commander (who is the husband of one of the killed pregnant woman and brother of the other) says that villagers refer to US Special Forces as the "American Taliban" and that he refrained from putting on a suicide belt and attacking US soldiers with it only because of the pleas of his grieving siblings.
  • (4) Last week he argued that properly primed immigrants will "see off the racists" - as if once blacks and Asians could conjugate their verbs properly and learn the date of the Battle of Agincourt, then racists would refrain from attacking them.
  • (5) But Rouhani can still use his position as the public face of the Islamic republic to defend Rezaian, which he has refrained from doing, at least so far.
  • (6) Both promiscuous and nonpromiscuous male homosexuals should refrain from giving blood.
  • (7) Nevertheless, because of the uncertain future of any type of implant, especially new, we have encouraged the patients to follow a careful postoperative management program and refrain from heavy activity during the first year.
  • (8) For reasons of comparison, animals were also trained in a delayed go no-go task in which visual cues instructed them to perform or refrain from an arm movement reaction to a subsequent trigger stimulus.
  • (9) And to a lesser extent in Wales ," has been a persistent refrain during the first decade in the life of the National Assembly.
  • (10) A professional technician is available for consultation on technical problems, but strictly refrains from intervening in the creative work proper.
  • (11) Alistair Burt, a Foreign Office minister, urged Libya "to respect the right of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, and on all sides to exercise restraint and refrain from violence".
  • (12) Nowadays, the management of the crises which accompany significant Life Events (such as birth, marriage, retirement, death...) within this new family-system, is refrained by the lack of "relays" which were previously provided by the "enlarged family".
  • (13) The latter responded with tear gas, despite orders to refrain from using chemicals against protesters.
  • (14) chi2-testing, was refrained from in view of the small number of interviewes.
  • (15) Results indicate that when the harm-doers apologized, as opposed to when they did not, the victim-subjects refrained from severe aggression against them.
  • (16) I will refrain on saying my thoughts on the National League and pitchers hitting, but all I'm saying here is that maybe it would have been more fun to see a David Oritz or Victor Martinez hitting there instead.
  • (17) If the assessment is that media coverage will be damaging, news organisations are requested to refrain from reporting.
  • (18) Refrain from detonating your little bomb,” one of the generals told the commander in charge of the test.
  • (19) Cue that familiar gloating refrain from Stoke fans when Arsenal are in town: “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” they crooned.
  • (20) Media had been asked to refrain from reporting this for fear of further increasing the danger to him from his captors.

Stifle


Definition:

  • (n.) The joint next above the hock, and near the flank, in the hind leg of the horse and allied animals; the joint corresponding to the knee in man; -- called also stifle joint. See Illust. under Horse.
  • (v. t.) To stop the breath of by crowding something into the windpipe, or introducing an irrespirable substance into the lungs; to choke; to suffocate; to cause the death of by such means; as, to stifle one with smoke or dust.
  • (v. t.) To stop; to extinguish; to deaden; to quench; as, to stifle the breath; to stifle a fire or flame.
  • (v. t.) To suppress the manifestation or report of; to smother; to conceal from public knowledge; as, to stifle a story; to stifle passion.
  • (v. i.) To die by reason of obstruction of the breath, or because some noxious substance prevents respiration.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) I would like to see the return to a free university system for Australian students so everybody can have the same dreams and aspirations about bettering themselves and this nation, regardless of their circumstances.” Palmer said Australia’s best thinkers were being “stifled” and the country was “burying them in debt”.
  • (2) The stifles were frozen in slight flexion, then cut into 1-cm sagittal sections.
  • (3) 'Azerbaijan is turning into a dictatorship – we shouldn't fall for its caviar diplomacy' Read more The crowded courtroom was growing increasing stifling as the air-conditioner could not cope with mid-August heat.
  • (4) In addition, two dogs received intra-articular injections of autologous blood into their right stifle joint and saline into their left stifle joint.
  • (5) But whatever positions are put forward, we must ensure democracy is not stifled.
  • (6) What about the chilling effects of libel tourism and a system that both adds cost to stories and stifles freedom of expression?
  • (7) For long periods Argentina had been stifled by a fine counterpunching opposition, but it would be a little hasty to fret too much about them after this performance.
  • (8) Property taxes stifle investment and they contribute to businesses closing.” He said 66% of the properties featured on the list had appealed against their business rates.
  • (9) My role in these later manifestations of silence was that of aiding her in the articulation of hopes and wishes, stifled since early childhood because of an unfortunate series of abandonments and experiences of humiliation.
  • (10) A modified Ilizarov external fixator was used to transfix the stifle joint in 13 dogs.
  • (11) Peter Wilmshurst and his family enter the normal world blinking from the bright light of a case that is over" Wilmshurst was under no illusions as to the possibly disastrous financial outcome for himself and his family, but refused to back down in the face of a libel suit he believed was an attempt to silence valid criticism and stifle scientific debate.
  • (12) The development of elastic-system fibers in human vocal cord is characterized by every stage of maturation, whether normal, stifled or accelerated, according to areas.
  • (13) The English have escaped from the stifling post-imperial malaise to provide a political and economic system which is both continuous and dynamic, attracting capital and enterprise from all over the world.
  • (14) We are particularly grateful for our colleagues across the world who supported the Guardian in circumstances which threatened to stifle our reporting.
  • (15) The incident is the latest dispute between Belarus and western nations, in particular EU states that have challenged the former Soviet country and its longtime leader, Alexander Lukashenko , over a perceived stifling of human rights.
  • (16) In addition, a drawer sign was present in the stifle of 14 animals 31 days after surgery.
  • (17) It is said, for example, that tighter curbs would stifle innovation, although this theory appears not to be true for any other branch of modern capitalism.
  • (18) The death toll was worst in old peoples' homes and (less surprisingly) in stifling cities where the old, friendless and abandoned succumbed to the heat in anonymous apartments.
  • (19) Inside the carriage the temperature was stifling, the stench of unwashed bodies and stale urine overwhelming.
  • (20) "Telecoms is a very good example: for a long time, we had a government monopoly, which stifled innovation, and the service was poor.