How to Use abstain in a Sentence

abstain

verb

• Ten members voted for the proposal, six members voted against it, and two abstained.
• Of the 20 clubs, 14 agreed to the change, five voted against and one abstained.
  — The Associated Press, New York Times, 7 Sep. 2017
• Medvedev agreed to abstain and, a few hours later, the vote passed.
  — Kim Ghattas, The Atlantic, 6 Mar. 2022
• More than a dozen House members abstained from the vote.
  — CBS News, 30 May 2023
• Li got 2,936 votes, with three votes cast against him and eight abstained.
  — Laura He, CNN, 10 Mar. 2023
• Burnley chose to abstain, whilst the remaining 14 were in favour of the change.
  — SI.com, 26 Aug. 2019
• The most effective way to avoid any risks of cannabis use is to abstain from use.
  — James Hamblin, The Atlantic, 18 Aug. 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
• Two members abstained from the vote and three were absent.
  — Allison Kite, kansascity, 14 May 2018
• Many of these voters will abstain in the May 7 second round, polls show.
  — Helene Fouquet, Bloomberg.com, 28 Apr. 2017
• The judge ordered Wright to abstain from any substance abuse.
  — Jason Meisner, chicagotribune.com, 9 Dec. 2020
• The proposals passed with a total of 647 votes for and eight against, with five votes to abstain.
  — Jonathan M. Pitts, baltimoresun.com, 13 June 2019
• If the chief justice abstained from breaking a tie, the motion would fail.
  — Nicholas Fandos, New York Times, 30 Jan. 2020
• Scott Bailey was the lone board member to abstain from the final vote on the agreement.
  — oregonlive.com, 26 June 2019
• Forty-five members abstained, and the rest were absent.
  — New York Times, 13 June 2018
• Nine voted against, 35 abstained and 21 did not cast a vote.
  — NBC News, 23 Feb. 2018
• As for now, the designer mama hopes that the haters will abstain from her page.
  — Kelly Corbett, House Beautiful, 16 Dec. 2020
• 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
• Adi abstained from the vote, and the three other members voted in favor of the motion.
  — The Enquirer, 20 Mar. 2024
• 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
• 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
• Those with gluten issues need not abstain from dessert.
  — M.l. Santovec, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 2 Oct. 2017
• That's twice as many as those in the placebo group who were able to abstain, Bogenschutz said.
  — Sandee Lamotte, CNN, 24 Aug. 2022
• The concept is to abstain from alcohol for the 31 days of the month to begin the new year with a clean slate and better wellness.
  — Cindy Krischer Goodman, Sun Sentinel, 5 Jan. 2023
• At least four coalition members would need to vote no or abstain to derail the court changes.
  — Shira Rubin, Washington Post, 27 Mar. 2023
• During the season of Lent, Catholics are to abstain from eating meat on Fridays as an act of penance.
  — Sophie Carson, Journal Sentinel, 1 Mar. 2023
• Two members of the 150-seat parliament abstained and six didn’t vote.
  — Bloomberg.com, 26 Mar. 2018
• And as a growing body of research lays out, there are plenty of reasons to abstain.
  — Laura Regensdorf, Vogue, 16 June 2018
• Fasting for Ramadan means that Muslims abstain from food and drink from dawn to dusk.
  — Said Ahmed-Zaid, idahostatesman, 10 June 2017
• Polls show most voters are ignoring the call to abstain.
  — Kejal Vyas and Juan Forero, WSJ, 16 May 2018

Last Updated: 9 May 2024