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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
abstention
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ In the Volkskammer approval was by 299 votes to 80 with one abstention.
▪ On July 23 he presented the new Cabinet which was approved by 70 votes to two with eight abstentions.
▪ Piatakov's resolution was defeated by 48 to 11, with 19 abstentions.
▪ The declaration was passed by 355 votes to four with one abstention.
▪ The motion to reject the small constitution failed by 18 votes to 63 with three abstentions.
▪ The overall abstention rate was reported to be as high as 55 percent of the electorate of 2,200,000.
▪ The Senate had already approved the treaty on Sept. 17 by 176 votes to 16 with one abstention.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Abstention

Abstention \Ab*sten"tion\, a. [F. See Abstain.] The act of abstaining; a holding aloof.
--Jer. Taylor.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
abstention

1520s, from Middle French abstention (Old French astencion), from Late Latin abstentionem (nominative abstentio) "the act of retaining," noun of action from past participle stem of Latin abstinere "keep back, keep off, hold off" (see abstain).

Wiktionary
abstention

n. 1 (context obsolete English) The act of restraining oneself. (Attested from the early 16th century until the med 17th century.)(R:SOED5: page=9) 2 The act of abstaining; a holding aloof; refraining from. (First attested in the early 17th century.) 3 The act of declining to vote on a particular issue. (First attested in the late 19th century.) 4 Non-participation in the political world; as a country avoiding international affairs.

WordNet
abstention

n. the trait of abstaining (especially from alcohol) [syn: abstinence]

Wikipedia
Abstention

Abstention is a term in election procedure for when a participant in a vote either does not go to vote (on election day) or, in parliamentary procedure, is present during the vote, but does not cast a ballot. Abstention must be contrasted with " blank vote", in which a voter casts a ballot willfully made invalid by marking it wrongly or by not marking anything at all. A "blank (or white) voter" has voted, although their vote may be considered a spoilt vote, depending on each legislation, while an abstaining voter hasn't voted. Both forms (abstention and blank vote) may or may not, depending on the circumstances, be considered to be a protest vote (also known as a "blank vote" or "white vote").

An abstention may be used to indicate the voting individual's ambivalence about the measure, or mild disapproval that does not rise to the level of active opposition. Abstention can also be used when someone has a certain position about an issue, but since the popular sentiment supports the opposite, it might not be politically expedient to vote according to his or her conscience. A person may also abstain when they do not feel adequately informed about the issue at hand, or has not participated in relevant discussion. In parliamentary procedure, a member may be required to abstain in the case of a real or perceived conflict of interest.

Abstentions do not count in tallying the vote negatively or positively; when members abstain, they are in effect attending only to contribute to a quorum. White votes, however, may be counted in the total of votes, depending on the legislation.

Abstention (disambiguation)

Abstention or abstaining is refusing to vote in an election or in a parliamentary vote. It may also refer to:

  • abstentionism, standing for election to an assembly while boycotting the assembly itself
  • abstention doctrine, applied by a court refusing to hear a case which ought to be heard by a different court
  • Operation Abstention, code name of the British invasion of the Italian island of Kastelorizo, off Turkey, during World War II, in February 1941.
  • abstinence, voluntary restraint from a bodily pleasure, such as alcohol or sexual intercourse

Usage examples of "abstention".

His refusal to partake of any of the dishes that made up the second course did draw comment from his mama, but as she ascribed his loss of appetite to a surfeit of sugarplums, he could only be sorry that she had noticed his abstention.

However, this only served to underscore the divisions on the Council because it passed with five abstentions, including France, Russia, and China.

Clara sat back with bated breath, mentally taking the leap into the abyss, realizing it, and the cold prudence of abstention, and the delirium of the confession.

Why should we try to make it appear that abstention from lying is a virtue?

When I wrote an article some months ago urging temporary abstention from food as a remedy for an inactive appetite and for disease, I was accused of jesting, but I was in earnest.

I attributed much of my freedom from the diseases to which others succumbed to abstention from water drinking.

I shivered from cold, from frustration, from hunger - the sugar high of pastries is woefully short-lived - and from the fact that my vow of abstention had utterly collapsed.

J'ai vecu, as I apprehend most of us manage to exist, missing all along the varied forms of destruction by a hair's-breadth, saving my body, that's clear, and perhaps my soul also, but not without some damage here and there to the fine edge of my conscience, that heirloom of the ages, of the race, of the group, of the family, colourable and plastic, fashioned by the words, the looks, the acts, and even by the silences and abstentions surrounding one's childhood.

They had deliberately forced the N'Taians' abstention by disallowing her suicide.

But after Don Guillermo I felt a feeling of shame and distaste, and with the coming of the drunkards and the worthless ones into the lines, and the abstention of those who left the lines as a protest after Don Guillermo, I wished that I might disassociate myself altogether from the lines, and I walked away, across the square, and sat down on a bench under one of the big trees that gave shade there.

Knowing my habit of abstention, and being of a somewhat malicious and tormenting humor, Captain Dwale had expressly commanded my presence at the feast.

A total abstainer is one who abstains from everything but abstention, and especially from inactivity in the affairs of others.

All of the exotic polities were unanimously in favor, while the Human Polity was split along party lines with a handful of conscientious abstentions.

As to this abstention during certain times of the month, well, in my country it's called the rhythm method, and the Pope has approved it.

He was an occasional social drinker, the first stage above complete abstention.