English → Latin
“refrain” in Latin
abstineōto abstain; to keep, stay off or away, hold at a distance, avoid; to allow, letquōminusthat nottemperōto divide duly, qualify, temper, moderate; to combine, compound or blend properly; to rule, regulate, govern, manage, ar
The English word refrain itself goes back to Latin frēnum, through refrēnāre.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
refrain
Transitively, To check, restrain, Vid:
Intransitively, abstinere or se abstinere ab aliqua re: se continere ab aliqua re (to keep one’s self back from): temperare sibi, quominus: temperare (sibi) ab aliqua re (not to seize upon, to abstain from; ☞ not temperare alicui rei, which is = to set measure or bounds to anything; Vid: Krüger, § 359: temperare aliqua re is not a Latin construction; for in Liv., 32, 34, 3, risu is the dative): parcere alicui rei (to spare; e.g., ut neque lamentis neque exsecrationibus parceretur, Liv., 8, 7, 21; parco nominibus viventium, I refrain from mentioning the names of persons now alive, Quint., 3, 1, 21). To refrain from food, se abstinere cibo; a (quibusdam) cibis temperare: to refrain from fighting, supersedere proelio or pugna: to refrain from tears, lacrimas tenere; temperare a lacrimis († Verg., Aen., 2, 8; whereas temperare lacrimis, Liv., 30, 20, 1 = to moderate one’s tears): to refrain from laughter, risum tenere or continere: to refrain from intercourse with anybody, alicujus aditum sermonemque defugere: not to be able to refrain, sibi temperare or se continere non posse, quin; a se non impetrare posse, quin: to be scarcely able to refrain from, vix se continere posse, quin etc.; vix temperare sibi posse, quin, etc.; vix comprimor, quin, etc. (Plaut., Mostellaria, 1, 3, 46).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for refrain?
- The usual Latin words for “refrain” are abstineō, quōminus, temperō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.