I. verb
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Kate wanted to slap Keith round the face but she refrained.
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Please refrain from smoking in the restaurant.
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Rand refrained from comment on the scandal involving his opponent.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Black leaders will refrain from hammering at the issue out of an uneasiness at speaking about intergenerational oppression.
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Chamlong, seated beside Suchinda, appealed to protestors to refrain from violence.
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He explained that he had refrained from elaborating on his opponents' anti-constitutional activities in order to avoid tension.
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Jessica had refrained from expressing any further disquiet over them - at lest to me.
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Nevertheless, he refrains from visiting at the Vincys' for a time.
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Refiners have refrained from building any new plants since 1977.
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The storekeepers paid Mr. B. a fin a week, and he refrained from smashing up their equipment.
II. noun
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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"Never again" is the refrain associated with the Holocaust.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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And beneath it, that refrain of betrayal.
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Both Mama Bear and Papa Bear repeat their familiar refrain .
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Ever since the 23d of September he had recommenced his eternal refrain by demanding reinforcements, and... more reinforcements!
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Her own refrain went: This is not for me.
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His swollen, inflamed face had become unbearable now; he could neither touch it, nor refrain from touching it.
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Most notable were the razor-sharp bottleneck on Cloud Nine and the familar, sliding refrain of Something.
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This refrain might play well in Washington, but it gets less true by the day.
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Who is the beloved who sings this refrain to her lover?