teetotal

comparative more teetotal · superlative most teetotal

1. Abstinent from alcohol; never drinking alcohol.

   ‘He’s teetotal. Don’t touch a drop.’

   1960, J. E. Macdonnell, Don't Gimme the Ships, Melbourne: Horwitz Publications, page 65

   1 more example

   There is absolutely a teetotal society here in the heart of the mountains, and some quarrelsome drunkards have become reformed!

   [1846], Religious Tract Society (Great Britain) (contributor), Jamaica, Enslaved and Free, →OCLC, page 88

   Synonyms: on the wagon, straightedge

2. Opposed to the drinking of alcohol.
3. Containing no alcohol.
4. datedemphaticTotal.

   That's a teetotal lie.

   1858, Samuel Putnam Avery, The Harp of a Thousand Strings: Or, Laughter for a Lifetime, page 331

plural teetotals

1. One who abstains from drinking alcohol.

   Hubert is trying to persuade James, a strict Presbyterian and teetotal, to come into the pub.

   2004, Andrea Levy, chapter 12, in Small Island, London: Review, page 137

   Synonyms: teetotaler, pioneer · Antonyms: alcoholic, dipsomaniac, drunkard, alco, alcoholic, alkie, bacchanal, bacchant

present singular third person teetotals · US participle present teetotaling · UK participle present teetotalling · US participle past teetotaled · US past teetotaled · UK participle past teetotalled · UK past teetotalled

1. intransitiveuncommonTo advocate or practice the total abstinence from alcohol.