Abstains

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Deliberately decides not to participate in an action or event, such as refraining from voting or consuming alcohol
2. Elects to withhold oneself from taking part in an activity, commonly by not casting a vote or avoiding certain behaviors
3. Intentionally refrains from engaging in a specific action, often by not voting or by avoiding intake of substances like alcohol

Etymology: "Abstains" is the third-person singular form of "abstain", so the story belongs to the verb itself. Its core is a physical image: Latin "abstineo" was built from "abs-", meaning "from" or "away", and "teneo", "to hold". To abstain was literally to hold oneself back, keeping a distance from something one could have reached for. The verb arrived in English around 1380, having passed through Old French "astenir" and "abstenir" on its way from Latin. Middle English spellings such as "absteynen" show the word still settling into its final shape, and the English form has kept the sense of deliberately not doing or taking something. The same "teneo" root gives us "tenable", a word about something one can hold or defend. Abstaining and tenability thus share a common ancestor: both grow from the idea of holding.

Synonyms: refrains, desists, avoids, withholds, ceases

Antonyms: indulges, participates, engages, consents, allows