abstention
/əbˈstɛnʃ(ə)n
/noun
1An instance of declining to vote for or against a proposal or motion: a resolution passed by 126 votes to none, with six abstentions...
- A motion passed overwhelmingly with no votes against and two abstentions was proposed jointly by Labour and the Conservatives.
- A show of hands resulted in 11 people voting to bring back the bells, with one vote against and six abstentions.
- This time the vote was 120 to 98, with six abstentions.
Synonyms
refusal to vote, abstaining, non-voting
informal sitting on the fence
2 [mass noun] Restraint in one’s consumption; abstinence: alcohol consumption versus abstention...
- But again, this would only be true if Crusoe's saving - i.e. his abstention from possible present consumption - had been channeled into investment in such tools.
- The disquieting voices of the few people who doubted that complete abstention was achievable for most problematic consumers were drowned out in a sea of treatment optimism.
- Existing treatments for alcoholism tend to concentrate either on abstention - sometimes aided by drugs - or the use of aversion therapy, such as drugs that make you ill if you drink.
Derivatives
abstentionism
- However, the report said abstentionism was not inevitable as 57% of the EU electorate who didn't vote last June said they had voted in the previous national election in their country.
- Frustration at the narrow-minded ‘electoralism’ of the British political parties has produced a new form of militant abstentionism in the 2001 campaign which we haven't seen before.
- So, elections will almost certainly be held - amidst continuing and probably escalating violence and amidst a high rate of abstentionism, especially in Sunni areas.
Origin
Early 16th century (denoting the action of keeping back or restraining): from late Latin abstentio(n-), from the verb abstinere (see abstain).