Abstemious describes moderation, particularly in consumption of food and alcohol, stemming from Latin roots related to restraint and drink.
Abstemious means marked by restraint, especially in eating or drinking, or reflecting such restraint. It comes from Latin, combining 'abs-' (away from) with a stem related to 'intoxicating beverage'.
| Word | abstemious |
|---|---|
| Date | January 17, 2017 |
| Type | adjective |
| Syllables | ab-STEE-mee-us |
| Etymology | Abstemious and abstain look alike, and both have meanings involving self-restraint or self-denial. So they must both come from the same root, right? Yes and no. Both get their start from the Latin prefix abs-, meaning "from" or "away." But abstain traces to the Latin abstinēre, a combination of abs- and the Latin verb tenēre ("to hold"), while abstemious comes from the Latin abstēmius, which combines abs- with tēm- (a stem found in the Latin tēmētum, "intoxicating beverage," and tēmulentus, "drunken") and the adjectival suffix -ius ("full of, abounding in, having, possessing the qualities of"). |
| Examples | Allie's midlife heart attack opened her eyes to the importance of taking care of her body and turned her to a more abstemious and healthful lifestyle. "He is so abstemious that he once declared that to avoid temptation, he would never appear anywhere alcohol was served unless his wife was with him." — Michael Barbaro and Monica Davey, The New York Times, 16 July 2016 |
| Definition | : marked by restraint especially in the consumption of food or alcohol; also : reflecting such restraint |
Tags: wordoftheday::adjective
Learn with these flashcards. Click next, previous, or up to navigate to more flashcards for this subject.
Next card: Paladin word palatium forms january noun pal-uh-din ancient
Previous card: Raiment clothes time young january noun ray-munt seek
Up to card list: Word of the Day