abstention

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

abstention
    n 1: the trait of abstaining (especially from alcohol) [syn:
         {abstinence}, {abstention}]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Abstention \Ab*sten"tion\, a. [F. See {Abstain}.]
   The act of abstaining; a holding aloof. --Jer. Taylor.
   [1913 Webster]

from Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)

ABSTENTION, French law. This is the tacit renunciation by an heir of a
succession Merl. Rep. h.t.

from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

63 Moby Thesaurus words for "abstention":
      Encratism, Friday, Lenten fare, Pythagoreanism, Pythagorism,
      Rechabitism, Shakerism, Spartan fare, Stoicism, abstainment,
      abstemiousness, abstinence, anythingarianism, asceticism,
      avoidance, banyan day, celibacy, chastity, continence, cop-out,
      desuetude, disuse, eschewal, evasion, fast, fence-sitting,
      fish day, fruitarianism, gymnosophy, impartiality, independence,
      mugwumpery, mugwumpism, nephalism, neutralism, neutrality,
      nonalignment, noncommitment, nonemployment, noninvolvement,
      nonpartisanism, nonprevalence, nonuse, nothingarianism,
      obsolescence, obsoleteness, obsoletion, obsoletism, pensioning off,
      plain living, refraining, refrainment, retirement,
      sexual abstinence, simple diet, spare diet, strict neutrality,
      superannuation, teetotalism, the pledge, total abstinence,
      unprevalence, vegetarianism

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