What does teetotal mean?
Teetotal describes a deliberate, complete refusal to drink alcohol, and it can also name a person who makes that choice. The important distinction is between abstinence and moderation: a teetotal person does not drink at all, even occasionally, rather than merely limiting or avoiding alcohol on certain occasions. As an adjective, teetotal is commonly used of people, households, communities, lifestyles, and upbringings; as a noun, it denotes an abstainer, though teetotaller is often more usual in modern British English. The word is chiefly associated with British usage and with nineteenth-century temperance advocacy, when movements promoting abstinence sought a forceful term for rejecting alcohol entirely. It can sound principled and uncompromising, but today it may also carry a slightly old-fashioned or moralizing undertone. Teetotal is useful when exactness matters, since words such as sober or temperate can refer only to a temporary condition or to moderation rather than complete abstinence.
Abstaining completely from alcohol.
"They maintain a teetotal household and keep no alcoholic drinks at home."
Often used before a person, household, community, lifestyle, or upbringing.
A person who abstains completely from alcohol.
"The teetotal addressed the meeting about his reasons for avoiding alcohol."
Less common than the derived noun teetotaller.
Rare; this plural is used when referring to more than one person who abstains from alcohol.
"The two teetotals served as representatives of the local temperance society."
Teetotal is an all-or-nothing word: unlike "temperate," it means not a single glass, but none at all.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does teetotal come from?
Teetotal emerged in early nineteenth-century Britain in connection with the temperance movement. Its formation combined an intensifying element with total, expressing the idea of being wholly or entirely abstinent from alcohol. Total and its derivatives ultimately derive from Latin totus, meaning "whole."
Related word forms
How teetotal is actually used
The adjective is much more common than the noun, for which teetotaller is often preferred. The word is chiefly associated with British English and historical temperance advocacy; in modern US English, abstainer is often more idiomatic. It denotes complete abstinence rather than moderation or occasional abstention.