(abstains, abstaining, abstained)
1.
If you abstain from something, usually something you want to do, you deliberately do not do it. (FORMAL)
Abstain from sex or use condoms...
Do you drink alcohol, smoke, or abstain?
VERB: V from n, V
2.
If you abstain during a vote, you do not use your vote.
Three Conservative MPs abstained in the vote.
VERB: V