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
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.
See Examples For:
Zero-alcohol beers helped drive sales last year, the company said, as the teetotal portfolio, led by Corona Cero, surged 34% on year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026
But he says it sometimes seems difficult for people to accept he's teetotal.
From BBC ● Nov. 29, 2025
The teetotal chancellor also announced plans to "radically simplify" alcohol tax, so that it was based purely on the strength of the drink.
From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2021
He has been drug-free, teetotal and vegan since he was 30.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 7, 2020
Captain Armytage, who never missed a merrymaking of any description within a circle of miles, took on himself to reply to this teetotal oration.
From Cedar Creek From the Shanty to the Settlement by Walshe, Elizabeth Hely
Mantz and his training partner, Clayton Young, are teetotaling former BYU teammates and missionaries who finished in the top 10 in the Paris Olympics marathon.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2025
Whether teetotaling, temperance or virgin, they’re just drinks, after all — though I suppose their intricacy beyond fresh-squeezed juice demands we label them something nobler.
From Salon ● Feb. 15, 2024
A better option for teetotaling moviegoers is Three Dollar Cinema’s free OUTdoor Cinema at various parks throughout Seattle.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 20, 2023
When the protagonists meet, Michael is a teetotaling, vegetarian writer for TV Guide who’s ready for a verbal throw-down with anyone who disrespects “Felicity.”
From Washington Post ● Dec. 6, 2022
The shop’s name stems from a term of derision for the teetotaling, lecture-friendly Congregationalists who settled the town in the 1850s.
From New York Times ● Aug. 11, 2018
The teetotalling revolutionaries operated for years out of a second-floor office, above a liquor store, far from the diplomatic quarter.
From The New Yorker ● Feb. 10, 2019
Does Paulson, the devout Christian Scientist, the teetotalling college football star, have some secret affiliation with 60s radicalism?
From The Guardian ● Feb. 10, 2017
Too many teetotalling whimsy cats in the scene for my liking.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 3, 2012
Playing a steady, nerveless game, the 34-year-old teetotalling saloon owner came from behind to catch American Walker Cup Player Bill Campbell and beat him 2 and 1 in the 36-hole final round.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
