abstain
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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"We must intensify efforts to help people quit tobacco use, avoid cancer-linked infections, abstain from alcohol, maintain a healthy weight, and get more daily exercise."
From Science Daily ● Sep. 7, 2026
Marra came to a deal with Sarwar – he was allowed to abstain.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
Mayra Goulart, political science professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, told AFP the main challenge for Lula and Flavio will be to reach "disengaged voters" who are highly likely to abstain.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
Such “orphaned” voters — those left without a candidate of their party in a general election — are historically just as likely to abstain from voting or to vote based on far less strategic considerations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
Though I follow the rules and routines of convent life, Angelina will not allow me to abstain from meat, as the sisters do.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
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He clarified that this could mean that the party abstains on any vote for the next first minister after the 2026 Holyrood election.
From BBC ● Apr. 20, 2025
Recently persuaded by her teen daughter, Mae, to join social media, Hahn abstains from reading the comments.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 26, 2024
"But the truth is we know relatively little from this 50%, from this half of the population that abstains from electoral processes."
From Reuters ● Sep. 2, 2022
Like Trump, the former vice president has pointed to alcoholism in his family in explaining why he abstains.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 10, 2020
I don’t know if the hose were clean, but I do notice that everyone on the show abstains from drinking lemonade that day.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
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During his first stint as an MP, Burnham abstained from a 2015 vote on another bill to legalise assisted dying because of concerns over safeguards and people feeling under pressure.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
Aimed at "a more accurate representation" of continental landmasses, the resolution was supported by 164 countries while the United States voted against it and six other states abstained.
From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026
Norway's football federation abstained and argued the bidding process undermined "Fifa's reforms for good governance" and challenged "trust in Fifa".
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
Supervisors Kathryn Barger, Janice Hahn and Holly Mitchell abstained from voting on the motion to extend the protection, while Supervisors Hilda Solis and Horvath supported it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2026
More than a third of the senators abstained from voting.
From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling
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In 2020, Milan Township passed an ordinance that would allow the project to go forward, with Heath’s brother, the township supervisor, abstaining.
From Salon ● Apr. 27, 2026
Most voters our columnist spoke with are following the new rule to watch everything, or abstaining from certain categories.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 2026
Although she did not agree a deal for the new budget Jane Dodds, the Welsh Liberal Democrat leader and the party's only MS, said she would also be abstaining on the budget.
From BBC ● Jan. 27, 2026
There were 13 votes in favour of the text and none against, with Russia and China both abstaining but not deploying their veto as permanent members.
From Barron's ● Nov. 18, 2025
I remember reading about Pythagoras around this time, and finding some of his ideas curiously appealing—wearing white garments, for instance, or abstaining from foods which have a soul.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
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Vocabulary lists containing abstain
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Electoral Elocution: The Verbiage of Voting
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