abstemious

Meaning

Adjective

• Refraining from freely consuming food or strong drink; sparing in diet; abstinent, temperate.
• Sparing in the indulgence of the appetite or passions.
• Sparingly used; used with temperance or moderation.
• Marked by, or spent in, abstinence.
• Promotive of abstemiousness.

Related

Similar words

• abstentious
• abstinent
• continent
• [[abnegating
• self-abnegating]]
• self-denying
• sober
• temperate

Opposite words

• immoderate, intemperate

Origin

• From Latin abstēmius ("abstaining from wine"); from ab, abs + tēmus, a root of tēmētum (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *temH- ("dark (referring to the colour of wine)")) -ous.