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WordWealth: abstemious

ab·ste·mi·ous ,  adj

1. sparing or moderate in eating and drinking; temperate in diet; 2. characterized by abstinence, restricted to bare necessities: an abstemious life; 3. sparing: an abstemious diet. [1615–25; < L abstmius, equiv. to abs- ABS- + tm- (base of tmtum intoxicating drink) + -ius -IOUS] (Random House Webster's, Unabridged). Look at Thesaurus

Levels of alcohol consumption also varied markedly between the north west and the south and east, with Northern Irish people "by far" the most abstemious. Almost half of men and three-fifths of women in Northern Ireland had not had an alcoholic drink in the week prior to the interview. —— North-South Divide Confirmed, BCC Business, 28 Sept, 2000.

The medium for distribution of the drug was a simple choice. All foods were strictly rationed, and tea was the only beverage readily available in Britain (apart from gin and beer, which were obviously out of the question for the abstemious bureaucrats). In addition, the quality of tea had deteriorated due to poor supply from India, so the rather metallic taste of the drug was unlikely to be noticed. There remained the problem of broadcasting the hypnotic sounds. —— Tea: A British response to Natural Disasters, BBC Peer Review

Talking with people in suburbs across America, one finds that as a nation we feel that the most pressing scarcity in life is not of money but of time. Hanson's farmers have callused hands; today's suburbanites have color-coded charts on the refrigerator indicating where each kid has to be at each moment of the week. They live in an overcommunicated world; they have to be ruthless editors in the war for their attention. They are self-disciplined, too—this is surely the most abstemious moment in American history. (The yeoman farmers hit the moonshine, whereas caffeine, a stimulant, is the drug for our age.) Moreover, these suburbanites still find time to coach Little League teams, teach Sunday school, and take their kids hunting and fishing. —— David Brooks in On the Playing Fields of Suburbia, January, 2003

 

Further note: Abstemious  comes  from Latin abstemius, from ab-, abs-, "away from" + the root of temetum, "intoxicating drink." Synonyms:  abstinent,  teetotal,  temperate. Look at Thesaurus

 

 


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