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“Abstinence” or “Abstinents”

abstinence / abstinents are similar-sounding terms with different meanings (referred to as homophones). To better understand the differences, see below for definitions, pronunciation guides, and example sentences using each term.

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Definitions

What each term means

Same sound, different spellings and meanings, shown with a pronunciation guide for each term.

abstinence AE·b·s·t·ah·n·ah·n·s

  • nounthe trait of abstaining (especially from alcohol).
  • nounact or practice of refraining from indulging an appetite.

abstinents

No dictionary entry for this spelling — see the usage examples below for how it shows up in writing.

Usage

Examples in context

Real sentences for each spelling. Hover an example to copy it.

“abstinence”

  • They used abstinence as their main form of…
  • …to teach the virtue of abstinence."
  • Total Abstinence and its proper Place 1863
  • …left unhappy at his enforced abstinence.
  • Moir specialized in sexual abstinence and taught his beliefs to
  • …worship of one god and abstinence from alcohol.
  • …substance abuse (time period of abstinence is variable)
  • Sexual abstinence
  • …teach birth-control methods only by abstinence from sex.
  • …International described change as, "attaining abstinence from homosexual behaviors, lessening of…

“abstinents”

No example sentences found for this spelling.

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license. Definitions are drawn from WordNet.

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