What does "abstemious" mean?
Abstemious: Sparing in diet; refraining from a free use of food and strong drinks; temperate; abstinent; sparing in the indulgence of the appetite or passions. Instances of longevity are chiefly among the abstemious. Arbuthnot.
Additional senses
- 2.Sparingly used; used with temperance or moderation; as, an abstemious diet. Gibbon.
- 3.Marked by, or spent in, abstinence; as, an abstemious life. "One abstemious day." Pope.
- 4.Promotive of abstemiousness. [R.] Such is the virtue of the abstemious well. Dryden.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00