abstemious
/əbˈstiːmɪəs
/adjective
Indulging only very moderately in something, especially food and drink: ‘We only had a bottle.’ ‘Very abstemious of you.’...
- Dalton was said to be abstemious but did indulge in a game of bowls on a Thursday.
- There is no evidence, however, that a single drinking bout in an otherwise abstemious person will lead to pancreatitis.
- I considered a 48 hour fast, however decided that any gain that would be attained from this abstemious behaviour would be completely off-set by the onslaught of DT's that this effort would inevitably induce.
Synonyms
temperate, abstinent, austere, moderate, self-disciplined, self-denying, restrained, self-restrained, non-indulgent, sober, ascetic, puritanical, spartan, strict, severe, self-abnegating, hair-shirt
Derivatives
abstemiously
/ adverb ...- Sims abstemiously declined anything alcoholic but before she knew it ‘three Martinis were whizzing around my bloodstream’.
- We'd ordered a bottle of Tiefenbrunner Pinot Grigio 2001 for €21 from a range of interesting and well priced new and old world wines, which we managed to sip abstemiously for the entire meal.
- They subsist abstemiously upon wild herbs and fruits and roots and leaves of diverse kinds.
abstemiousness
/ noun ...- It turns out Fields was a huge admirer of hers, but their approaches to comedy, and life, were poles apart - Fields being a master of excess and West a paragon of abstemiousness.
- Jake made up for any parental abstemiousness though.
- That is not to suggest that I am a model of abstemiousness who has never made an idiot of himself after five too many.
Synonyms
temperance, abstinence, austerity, moderation, plain/simple living, self-discipline, self-denial, renunciation, restraint, self-restraint, self-deprivation, sobriety, asceticism, puritanism, severity, self-abnegation, continence
Origin
Early 17th century: from Latin abstemius, (from ab- 'from' + a word related to temetum 'alcoholic drink') + -ous.