How to Use abstain in a Sentence

abstain

verb

• Ten members voted for the proposal, six members voted against it, and two abstained.
• More than a dozen House members abstained from the vote.
  — CBS News, 30 May 2023
• Medvedev agreed to abstain and, a few hours later, the vote passed.
  — Kim Ghattas, The Atlantic, 6 Mar. 2022
• The most effective way to avoid any risks of cannabis use is to abstain from use.
  — James Hamblin, The Atlantic, 18 Aug. 2017
• Two members abstained from the vote and three were absent.
  — Allison Kite, kansascity, 14 May 2018
• Those with gluten issues need not abstain from dessert.
  — M.l. Santovec, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 2 Oct. 2017
• But who will manage to abstain from hooking up, and who will break the rules in record time?
  — Amy MacKelden, ELLE, 8 Dec. 2022
• If the chief justice abstained from breaking a tie, the motion would fail.
  — Nicholas Fandos, New York Times, 30 Jan. 2020
• As for now, the designer mama hopes that the haters will abstain from her page.
  — Kelly Corbett, House Beautiful, 16 Dec. 2020
• The judge ordered Wright to abstain from any substance abuse.
  — Jason Meisner, chicagotribune.com, 9 Dec. 2020
• Forty-five members abstained, and the rest were absent.
  — New York Times, 13 June 2018
• Polls show most voters are ignoring the call to abstain.
  — Kejal Vyas and Juan Forero, WSJ, 16 May 2018
• Scott Bailey was the lone board member to abstain from the final vote on the agreement.
  — oregonlive.com, 26 June 2019
• At least four coalition members would need to vote no or abstain to derail the court changes.
  — Shira Rubin, Washington Post, 27 Mar. 2023
• And as a growing body of research lays out, there are plenty of reasons to abstain.
  — Laura Regensdorf, Vogue, 16 June 2018
• Twelve senators on the committee voted for the bill and three abstained.
  — Mike Cason | [e-mail], al, 15 Mar. 2023
• New York had to abstain from the vote due to the fact that the state assembly hadn't yet given their approval.
  — Alex Aronson, Popular Mechanics, 21 June 2019
• This allowance would increase the longer a person abstained from flying.
  — Keith Baker, Quartz, 20 Aug. 2019
• Half of the participants will abstain from hooch, while the rest will imbibe one serving a day.
  — Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 3 Apr. 2018
• Again, good reasons to cut back or abstain (and in time maybe explore the root of those feelings).
  — Alan Dybner, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 June 2023
• Ramadan is a holy month where all Muslims fast from dawn to dusk and abstain from eating and drinking.
  — Yumna Jawad, Better Homes & Gardens, 16 Apr. 2021
• These days, abstaining from hugging and holding your loved ones has become an act of love.
  — Amara Walker, CNN, 24 Apr. 2020
• There are those who choose to abstain from the Clapping, and those who actively campaign against it.
  — Amanda Hess, New York Times, 9 Apr. 2020
• Many of these voters will abstain in the May 7 second round, polls show.
  — Helene Fouquet, Bloomberg.com, 28 Apr. 2017
• But lawmakers can abstain or be absent, bringing down the number of votes a law needs in order to pass.
  — Hadas Gold, CNN, 26 Mar. 2023
• Fasting for Ramadan means that Muslims abstain from food and drink from dawn to dusk.
  — Said Ahmed-Zaid, idahostatesman, 10 June 2017
• Burnley chose to abstain, whilst the remaining 14 were in favour of the change.
  — SI.com, 26 Aug. 2019
• Most club members abstained from the vote, but six voted with Baraka, enough to kill the club’s chances for now.
  — Heather Knight, San Francisco Chronicle, 6 May 2023
• Prohibiting sales doesn’t mean that locals will abstain from pot.
  — Steve Chapman, chicagotribune.com, 20 Nov. 2019
• That's twice as many as those in the placebo group who were able to abstain, Bogenschutz said.
  — Sandee Lamotte, CNN, 24 Aug. 2022

Last Updated: 27 Mar 2024