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# abstemious

«abstemious» in Mova's school dictionary: **eating and drinking very little, especially not much rich…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

adjective (abstemious)

### meaning for a pupil

(formal) Abstemious means eating and drinking very little, especially not much rich food or alcohol; holding yourself back from pleasures. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/abstemious/#m1)

### sense in the lessons

In formal writing, history and religious stories, monks, saints and some famous people lived abstemious lives. In health lessons, the word links to self-control and moderation. In church life, fasting in Lent is an abstemious practice. Phrases: «an abstemious life», «abstemious habits».

### examples

- The old monk lived an abstemious life of bread and water. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/abstemious/#x1)
- Grandad is abstemious and never drinks alcohol. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/abstemious/#x2)
- She was abstemious at the party and had only one small cake. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/abstemious/#x3)
- During Lent some Christians are more abstemious and give up treats. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/abstemious/#x4)
- The athlete kept to an abstemious diet before the race. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/abstemious/#x5)
- He was too abstemious to have a second helping. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/abstemious/#x6)

### note

Formal. Say «ab-STEE-mee-us». Fun fact: «abstemious» and «facetious» contain all five vowels a, e, i, o, u in order — a favourite puzzle and olympiad fact. Related: abstain (choose not to do or have something).

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «abstemious» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/abstemious/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.