as in ascetic
given to or marked by restraint in the satisfaction of one's appetites
being abstemious diners, they avoid restaurants with all-you-can-eat buffets
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Recent Examples of abstemious
For the more abstemious, a bottle of Non3 ($30), a zero-proof sipping drink with notes of cinnamon and yuzu and a slightly tannic finish, alongside a Massimo Lunardon weird-little-dude goblet ($155)—not its official name, but certainly an accurate description of its weird-little-dudeness.
—
Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 19 Nov. 2023
Low mass has always been a Miata virtue, endowing the car with not just precise handling but also an abstemious appetite for tires and fuel.
—Jonathan M. Gitlin, Ars Technica, 21 July 2023
While that might sound painfully abstemious or downright torturous, We Care has a few key things going for it.
—Liz Krieger, Town & Country, 1 Mar. 2023
But somehow, during his more recent years in Gujarat, Modi had managed to rebrand himself as a sunny, pro-business techno-utopian, an abstemious leader with an intuitive grasp of 21st-century infrastructure and social media.
—Mohammad Ali, WIRED, 14 Apr. 2020
See All Example Sentences for abstemious
Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 19 Nov. 2023
Low mass has always been a Miata virtue, endowing the car with not just precise handling but also an abstemious appetite for tires and fuel.
—Jonathan M. Gitlin, Ars Technica, 21 July 2023
While that might sound painfully abstemious or downright torturous, We Care has a few key things going for it.
—Liz Krieger, Town & Country, 1 Mar. 2023
But somehow, during his more recent years in Gujarat, Modi had managed to rebrand himself as a sunny, pro-business techno-utopian, an abstemious leader with an intuitive grasp of 21st-century infrastructure and social media.
—Mohammad Ali, WIRED, 14 Apr. 2020
See All Example Sentences for abstemious
Recent Examples of Synonyms for abstemious
Adjective
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How can a kindly, God-fearing, and ascetic novice monk compete against that?—
Karl Ove Knausgaard,
New Yorker,
21 Oct. 2025
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In fact, the ascetic value of fasting from meat required that the person otherwise enjoy it.—
Livia Gershon,
JSTOR Daily,
4 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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This simple tank since it can be worn on its own to keep you temperate during toasty flights, and it’s made with the brand’s DreamKnit Fabric that results in an unbelievably soft finish.—
Merrell Readman,
Travel + Leisure,
6 Nov. 2025
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Research, however, has tended to focus on temperate lakesrather than those in the tropics, despite their huge vulnerability to intense warming.—
Laura Paddison,
CNN Money,
6 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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Ivan Neville has been on a few times and always talks being abstinent.—
Shirley Halperin,
Rolling Stone,
1 Oct. 2025
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As a purist, Murray defines sobriety as being completely abstinent from habit-forming substances that could cause dependency, including prescription drugs like Xanax and Suboxone.—
Frederick Melo,
Twin Cities,
23 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Abstemious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/abstemious. Accessed 10 Nov. 2025.
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