abstinence

noun

1 he took a pledge of abstinence:

teetotalism, temperance, sobriety, abstemiousness, abstention;

rare nephalism.

2 only one per cent use abstinence to reduce the risk of unwanted fatherhood:

celibacy, chastity, singleness, continence, virginity, bachelorhood, spinsterhood, self-restraint, self-denial.

▷antonyms promiscuity.

3 a three-day period of abstinence from food and drink:

refraining, desisting, holding back, forbearing, keeping, withholding;

renunciation of, refusal of, declining, avoidance of, eschewal of, abjuration of;

shunning, forgoing, going without, doing without.

abstinence Oxford Dictionary of English