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Abstinence is the practice of keeping away from or avoiding something you enjoy—such as the physical pleasures of excessive food and drink—usually for health or religious reasons.
When you are acquisitive, you are driven to pursue and own wealth and possessions—often in a greedy fashion.
Something austere is simple and plain in its style; an austere person is strict and severe with themselves.
If you covet something that someone else has, you have a strong desire to have it for yourself.
Desiderata are a wish list of things that are considered highly desirable or necessary to have.
Someone who is epicurean derives great pleasure in material and sensual things, especially good food and drink.
An exorbitant price or fee is much higher than what it should be or what is considered reasonable.
An action that is flagrant shows that someone does not care if they obviously break the rules or highly offend people.
Someone who is frugal spends very little money—and even then only on things that are absolutely necessary.
Someone who is indulgent tends to let other people have what they want; someone can be kind to excess when being indulgent.
If something is inordinate, it is much larger in amount or degree than is normally expected.
If someone has an insatiable desire for something she always wants more of it and never feels that she has enough.
When you exhibit moderation, you do nothing to excess; rather, you live in a balanced and measured way.
A monastic lifestyle is very simple—it is not given to excess in any way; rather, it is a lifestyle of self-denial.
A parsimonious person is not willing to give or spend money.
Someone who behaves in a prodigal way spends a lot of money and/or time carelessly and wastefully with no concern for the future.
Someone who is profligate is lacking in restraint, which can manifest in carelessly and wastefully using resources, such as energy or money; this kind of person can also act in an immoral way.
If you describe a person’s behavior as rapacious, you disapprove of them because they always want more money, goods, or possessions than they really need.
If you are ravenous, you are extremely hungry.
A spartan lifestyle is very simple and severe; it has no luxuries or comforts.
A teetotaler is one who does not drink alcohol.
If you show temperance, you act with self-restraint and so don’t do things in excess; you also stay away from drinking alcohol.
A feeling that is unbridled is enthusiastic and unlimited in its expression.
A voracious person has a strong desire to want a lot of something, especially food.
Adj.
abstemious
ab-STEE-mee-uhs
Context
Helga’s abstemious lifestyle kept her from ordering the double chocolate cake at dinner. In an abstemious effort to eat in a balanced fashion, Helga enjoyed the chicken and fresh fennel salad, but rejected dessert altogether. Likewise, her abstemious habits kept her from ordering the white wine that was recommended with the meal. Such abstemious, moderate, and cautious dining practices seemed extreme, but they did keep Helga healthy.
Quiz:Try again!
What does it mean when one is abstemious?
One consumes food and drink in a balanced, non-excessive way.
Stemming Us If we are abstemious, we stem the tide of too much food and drink filling us up.
Examples
One in eight Americans lives in poverty, which seems obscene given that the really rich are enjoying a level of privilege that makes the Gilded Age Vanderbilts look like abstemious Puritans.
—
The Washington Post