temperance

temperance, sobriety, abstinence, abstemiousness, continence can all mean self-restraint in the gratification of appetites or passions. In its more general sense Temperance implies simply habitual moderation and the exercise of judgment

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temperance in eating and drinking

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Exaggeration, exaltation, the fanatic spirit, are extremely rare.

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Temperance is the almost universal rule in speech, demeanor, taste, and habits— Brownell

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But temperance may be used specifically in reference to the use of intoxi-cating beverages and then tends to imply not merely moderation but abstention; thus, a temperance hotel is one where no intoxicating liquors are sold or served. Sobriety, like temperance, suggests avoidance of excess not only in drinking

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what would be sobriety for a billiard marker would be ruinous drunkenness for a . . . billiard player— Shaw

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but also in thought or action. Often it connotes the idea of seriousness or of avoidance of ostentation

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sobriety in dress

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admired him for his cleanliness, sobriety and industry— Cheever

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Abstinence implies voluntary deprivation

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the Cynic preached abstinence from all common ambitions, rank, possessions, power, the things which clog man's feet— Buchan

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the man who has made a virtue of abstinence secretly regrets, when he grows old, the discretions of his youth— Abel

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Abstemiousness and its much commoner adjective abstemious suggest habitual self-restraint, moderation, or frugality especially in eating or drinking

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the most abstemious of men ... he held old-fashioned and rather puritanical views— Woolf

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Continence emphasizes self- restraint in regard to one's impulses or desires

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he knew what to say, so he knows also when to leave off, a continence which is practiced by few writers— Dryden

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In its specific sense it stresses self-restraint in sexual indulgence. Sometimes it implies chastity or complete abstention; often, when referred to husband and wife, it implies avoidance of undue indulgence

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chastity is either abstinence or continence. Abstinence is that of virgins or widows; continence, of married persons— Taylor

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Analogous words: forgoing, forbearing or forbearance, sacrificing or sacrifice, eschewal (see corresponding verbs at FORGO): frugality, sparingness, thriftiness (see corresponding adjectives at SPARING): restraining, curbing, checking (see RESTRAIN)