6 definitions
Abstention (n.) is a shrug the state counts anyway.
Abstention (n.) is the vote cast by not casting one.
Abstention (n.) is how a diplomat says no to a friend.
Abstention (n.) is how the indifferent outvote the committed.
Abstention (n.) is the loudest vote in a chamber that expected a yes.
Abstention (n.) is not nothing: even what the small abstain from weaves at the web of all future humanity — a spider living off the blood of the future.