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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Abstinence \Ab"sti*nence\, noun [F. abstinence, L. abstinentia, fr. abstinere. See {Abstain}.]
1. The act or practice of abstaining; voluntary forbearance of any action, especially the refraining from an indulgence of appetite, or from customary gratifications of animal or sensual propensities. Specifically, the practice of abstaining from intoxicating beverages, -- called also {total abstinence}.
The abstinence from a present pleasure that offers itself is a pain, nay, oftentimes, a very great one. --Locke.
2. The practice of self-denial by depriving one's self of certain kinds of food or drink, especially of meat.
Penance, fasts, and abstinence, To punish bodies for the soul's offense. --Dryden.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
abstinence
noun
1: the trait of abstaining (especially from alcohol) [syn: {abstention}]
2: act or practice of refraining from indulging an appetite
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
124 Moby Thesaurus words for "abstinence": Albigensianism, Catharism, Encratism, Franciscanism, Friday, Lenten fare, Platonic love, Pythagoreanism, Pythagorism, Rechabitism, Sabbatarianism, Shakerism, Spartan fare, Stoicism, Trappism, Waldensianism, Yoga, abnegation, abstainment, abstemiousness, abstention, abstinence from food, anchoritic monasticism, anchoritism, asceticism, austerity, avoidance, banyan day, calm, calmness, celibacy, chastity, conservatism, constraint, continence, continency, control, cool, desuetude, dispassion, disuse, eremitism, eschewal, evenness, fast, fasting, fish day, flagellation, fruitarianism, gentleness, golden mean, gymnosophy, happy medium, impartiality, intactness, judiciousness, juste-milieu, lenity, maceration, maidenhead, maidenhood, meden agan, mendicantism, middle way, mildness, moderateness, moderation, moderationism, monachism, monasticism, mortification, nephalism, neutrality, nonemployment, nonprevalence, nonuse, nonviolence, nothing in excess, obsolescence, obsoleteness, obsoletion, obsoletism, pacifism, pensioning off, plain living, prudence, punishment of Tantalus, puritanism, refraining, refrainment, renunciation, repose, restraint, restriction of intake, retirement, rigor, self-abnegation, self-control, self-denial, self-mortification, self-restraint, serenity, sexual abstinence, simple diet, sobriety, spare diet, stability, starvation, steadiness, superannuation, teetotalism, temperance, temperateness, the pledge, total abstinence, tranquillity, unexcessiveness, unextravagance, unextremeness, unprevalence, vegetarianism, via media, virginity, voluntary poverty
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