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Asexuality vs Abstinence - What's the difference?

asexuality | abstinence |

As nouns the difference between asexuality and abstinence

is that asexuality is the state or quality of being asexual, that is: while abstinence is the act or practice of abstaining, refraining from indulging a desire or appetite .

asexuality

English

(wikipedia asexuality)

Noun

(-)
  • The state or quality of being asexual, that is:
  • # The state of not experiencing sexual attraction. Compare heterosexuality'', ''homosexuality'', ''bisexuality .
  • # The state of not having a sex or sexual organs.
  • #* 1971? , Roelof van den Broek, The Myth of the Phoenix , page 421:
  • The same holds for Vincentius Victor in his discussion of the asexuality' of the corporeal form of the soul. In Lactantius, who emphasizes the uncertainty concerning the sex of the phoenix, and in Zeno of Verona, who says that the phoenix is for itself both sexes, the background is again formed by the inferred ' asexuality of the phoenix.
  • # The quality (of a species or organism) of reproducing asexually.
  • #* 2003 , Gimme Hugh Walter, Insect Pest Management and Ecological Research , page 166:
  • The asexuality of insects is, in almost all cases, known to be a derived condition. That is, their evolution was contingent on the sexuality of their ancestral forms.
  • #* 2009 , Chapter 13 of Lost Sex: The Evolutionary Biology of Parthenogenesis , Isa Schön, Koen Martens, Peter van Dijk (editors), page 263:
  • While interpreted as supporting the asexuality of bdelloids, [...]

    • See also

    * *

    abstinence

    English

    (wikipedia abstinence)

    Alternative forms

    * abstinency

    Noun

    (-)
  • The act or practice of abstaining, refraining from indulging a desire or appetite.
    • Penance, fasts, and abstinence , / To punish bodies for the soul's offense. -
    The abstinence from a present pleasure that offers itself is a pain, nay, oftentimes, a very great one. —
    Complete abstinence is easier than perfect moderation. —
  • # Specifically, the practice of abstaining from intoxicating/alcoholic beverages; total abstinence; teetotalism).
  • # Specifically, the practice of abstaining from sexual intercourse, either permanently or until marriage.
  • # (ecclesiastical) Abstention from certain foods on days of penitential observance.
  • The practice of self-denial; self-restraint; forebearance from anything.
  • (obsolete) Self-denial; abstaining; or forebearance of anything.
  • (business) Delay of spending to accrue capital.

    • See also

    * abstention * continence * asexual

    References

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