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abstemious

abs·te·mious

UK/æbˈstiː.mɪ.əs/ US/æbˈsti.mi.əs/ uncommon rare

adjective

1.

sparing in consumption of especially food and drink

  • “the pleasures of the table, never of much consequence to one naturally abstemious” John Galsworthy
Antonyms
2.

marked by temperance in indulgence

  • “abstemious with the use of adverbs”
  • “a light eater”
  • “a light smoker”
  • “ate a light supper”
Synonyms
Similar

Origin

From Latin abstēmius (“abstaining from wine”); from ab, abs (“from”) + tēmus, a root of tēmētum (“intoxicating drink, especially strong mead or wine”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *temH- (“dark (referring to the colour of wine)”)) + -ous.

Related words

See also

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.