refrain
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
to stop yourself from doing something that you want to do.
to deliberately abstain from an impulse or action. Intransitive; almost always followed by the preposition 'from'.
Simple“Please refrain from smoking while you are inside the building.”
In context“The diplomat had to refrain from commenting on the sensitive negotiations until a formal agreement was reached by both parties.”
UsageUsually followed by 'from' + noun or gerund.
Teacher's tipThis is a polite, formal way to tell people not to do something, often seen on signs or in official announcements.
PitfallPlease refrain to talk during the movie. Please refrain from talking during the movie.The verb refrain must be followed by the preposition 'from' and a gerund (-ing form), not an infinitive.
“Invest some time in creating a budget tracker that works for you – and refrain from offering to buy a round with money that you may need to pay the bills.”
“One of his conditions is to refrain from communicating either directly or indirectly with the affected persons.”
From Middle English refreynen, from Anglo-Norman refrener, Old French refrener (from Latin refrenare), and influenced by Old French refraindre (from Latin refringere).
From French refrain, from the Old French verb refraindre (“to break off, repeat”), from Latin re- (“back, again”) + frangō (“break”); compare Occitan refranhs (“a refrain”), refranher (“to repeat”). See refract and the verb refrain.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.