#to refrain

• To refrain — To voluntarily restrain oneself from performing an action, expressing an opinion, or satisfying a craving or physical impulse; to exercise self-control. In the context of deliberative assemblies, committees, or parliamentary voting, it denotes the conscious choice to vote neither 'for' nor 'against', opting for a position of formal neutrality.
• Was refraining — Imperfect tense form, third-person singular of the reflexive verb 'a se abține', used in narratives or retrospective analyses to describe a continuous, repeated, or ongoing past action through which a subject controlled an impulse, a desire, an emotional reaction, or temporarily refused to participate in a decision.