What does the word abstemious mean and how do you use it in a sentence?

Abstemious means temperate, economical, not overly indulgent particularly with regard to the consumption of food and drink–tending towards moderation. An abstemious eater for example would be someone who eats lightly and sparingly.

Abstemious can be used to describe someone’s controlled, self-restrained temperament and their serious, self-possessed, sober and clear-headed state of being.Â An abstemious person can be frugal and stingy and conservative.

Used in a sentence

Mr. Pitt is abstemious, temperate, and regular. Mr. Rigby indulges more in convivial pleasure, is an excellent bon vivant, amiable, and engaging. From – All the year round: a weekly journal, Volume 69Â By Charles Dickens

Considering wine the chief cause of his present unhappy situation, he had, ever since his confinement, been particularly abstemious; but at supper, on this night, he felt it necessary to raise his spirits, and he drank sufficient to elevate without inebrieting. From -Guilty or not guilty, or, A lesson for husbands: a tale, Volume 3 By Ann Julia Hatton

After feasting on Thanksgiving Day, I became abstemious for a few days, so I lost some of the weight I had put on. From – Picture These SAT Words! By Philip Geer, Susan Geer