teetotal
Americanadjective
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of or relating to, advocating, or pledged to total abstinence from intoxicating drink.
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Informal. absolute; complete.
verb (used without object)
adjective
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of, relating to, or practising abstinence from alcoholic drink
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dialect complete
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of teetotal
Reduplicated variant of total, coined by R. Turner, of Preston, England, in 1833, in a speech advocating total abstinence from alcoholic drinks
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Teetotal McCoy's toll of injuries is sobering - he's broken both collarbones, shoulder blades, his lower and middle vertebrae, ribs, cheekbones, a leg, ankle, arm and wrist.
From BBC • Nov. 7, 2013
Quidnuncs will quiz, And Balfour-worshippers will smirk and chuckle, And ask if he considers it "good biz" To the Teetotal interest to truckle.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 98, March 1, 1890 by Various
As regards their morals, I regret to say that the traveller does not find them in the golden state which Teetotal doctrines lead him to expect.
From First Footsteps in East Africa by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
You have the Teetotal papers—and, really, it is a wonder that you have not yet also had the Iconoclasts and the Diabolists producing papers.
From The Free Press by Belloc, Hilaire
As far as my trip into Teetotal Land is concerned, it is an individual proposition and nothing else.
From Cutting It Out How to get on the waterwagon and stay there by Blythe, Samuel G. (Samuel George)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
