refrain

refrain, abstain, forbear are comparable when they mean to keep or withhold oneself voluntarily from something to which one is moved by desire or impulse.

Refrain is especially suitable when the checking of a momentary inclination is implied

{

refrain from laughter

}

At times, to refrain from an action implies merely its nonperformance

{

no tolerable parent could refrain from praising a child when it first walks— Russell

}

Abstain is more emphatic than refrain, because it usually stresses deliberate renunciation or self-denial on principle and often implies permanency of intent

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early Christians . . . abstained from the responsibilities of office— Acton

}

{

I have . . . abstained from the use of many expressions, in themselves proper and beautiful, but which have been foolishly repeated by bad poets— Wordsworth

}

It is used especially in reference to those natural appetites and passions whose control or renunciation are a part of self-discipline

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from this personal blow stemmed, I believe, an act of renun-ciation, his decision to abstain from meat— Shirer

}

Forbear usually implies self-restraint rather than self- denial, be it from patience, charity, or clemency, or from discretion, or from stoicism

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he was so poison-mean that the marsh mosquitoes forbore to bite him— S. H. Adams

}

{

wherever he has not the power to do or forbear any act according to the determination or thought of the mind, he is not free— Thilly

}

But often forbear is but vaguely distinguishable from refrain

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I cannot forbear quoting what seems to me applicable here— Justice Holmes

}

Analogous words: check, *arrest, interrupt: *restrain, curb, inhibit