abstemious
/æbˈsti.mi.əs/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 1.74 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
4
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Refraining from freely consuming food or strong drink; sparing in diet; abstinent, temperate.
adj
Sparing in the indulgence of the appetite or passions.
adj
Sparingly used; used with temperance or moderation.
adj
Marked by, or spent in, abstinence.
adj
Example Sentences
- "It cannot be denied it [the chameleon] is (if not the moſt of any) a very abſtemious animall, and ſuch as by reaſon of its frigidity, paucity of bloud, and latitancy in the winter (about which time the obſervations are often made) will long ſubſist without a viſible ſuſtentation."
- "Under his ſpecial eie / Abſtemious I [Samson] grew up and thriv'd amain; / He led me on to mightieſt deeds / Above the nerve of mortal arm / Againſt the uncircumciſ'd, our enemies."
- "In too great Repletion either the elaſtick Force of the Tube is totally deſtroy'd; or if it continue proportional to the Degree of Extenſion like a Bow too ſtrongly drawn, it throws the Fluid with too great a projectile Force forward through the Veſſels, and back upon the Heart, and ſubjects the Animal to all the Diſeaſes depending on a Plethory, and may bring it into immediate Danger. […] The Inſtances of Longevity are chiefly among the Abſtemious."
- "[…] I, abstemious naturally, and rendered so by the fever that preyed on me, was forced to recruit myself with food."
- "On turning around, I was instantly rivetted by his amazing emaciation; he seemed another "Lazarus, come forth" without his grave-clothes, […] Below the ribs, the trunk so immediately curves in, that the red band of the silk covering, though it is only loosely placed, seems a tourniquet to constrict the bowels within their prison-house, and the hip-bones, being of their natural size, the waist is like a wasp's. By this part of the frame we are reminded of some descriptions of the abstemious and Bedouin Arab of the desert, in whom it is said the abdomen seems to cling to the vertbræ."
- "In the dimness of the landing I could not see him very well, but there was something in his voice that surprised me. I knew he was of abstemious habit or I should have thought he had been drinking."
Etymology
From Latin abstēmius (“abstaining from wine”); from ab, abs (“from”) + tēmus, a root of tēmētum (“intoxicating drink, especially strong mead or wine”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *temH- (“dark (referring to the colour of wine)”)) + -ous.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /æbˈsti.mi.əs/
- British English: /æbˈstiː.mɪ.əs/
Inflected Forms
more abstemious (comparative)
most abstemious (superlative)