What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Abstain vs Veto - What's the difference?

abstain | veto |

As a verb abstain

is (transitive|reflexive|obsolete) keep or withhold oneself .

As a noun veto is

vet (profession).

abstain

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • (transitive, reflexive, obsolete) Keep or withhold oneself.
  • Refrain from (something); hold one's self aloof; to forbear or keep from doing, especially an indulgence of the passions or appetites.
  • * Who abstains from meat that is not gaunt? - Shakespeare, Richard II, II-i
  • (obsolete) Fast.
  • Deliberately refrain from casting one's vote at a meeting where one is present.
  • * Not a few abstained from voting. -
  • (obsolete) Hinder; keep back; withhold.
  • * Whether he abstain men from marying [sic]. -

    • Usage notes

    * (keep or withhold oneself) Followed by the word from' or ' of . * (refrain from something) Followed by the word from .

    Synonyms

    * deny oneself * forbear * forgo * give up * refrain * relinquish * withhold

    Derived terms

    * abstention

    Related terms

    * abstinence

    References

    Anagrams

    *

    veto

    English

    (wikipedia veto)

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • A political right to disapprove of (and thereby stop) the process of a decision, a law etc.
  • An invocation of that right.
  • An authoritative prohibition or negative; a forbidding; an interdiction.
  • * George Eliot
    • This contemptuous veto of her husband's on any intimacy with her family.

    Verb

    (es)
  • To use a against.

    • Anagrams

    * ----