forbid
Americanverb (used with object)
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to command (a person) not to do something, have something, etc., or not to enter some place.
She forbade him entry to the house.
- Synonyms:
- interdict
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to prohibit (something); make a rule or law against.
to forbid the use of lipstick; to forbid smoking.
- Synonyms:
- interdict
-
to hinder or prevent; make impossible.
-
to exclude; bar.
Burlesque is forbidden in many cities.
verb
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to prohibit (a person) in a forceful or authoritative manner (from doing something or having something)
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to make impossible; hinder
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to shut out or exclude
-
may it not happen
Related Words
Forbid, inhibit, prohibit, taboo indicate a command to refrain from some action. Forbid, a common and familiar word, usually denotes a direct or personal command of this sort: I forbid you to go. It was useless to forbid children to play in the park. Inhibit implies a checking or hindering of impulses by the mind, sometimes involuntarily: to inhibit one's desires; His responsiveness was inhibited by extreme shyness. Prohibit, a formal or legal word, means usually to forbid by official edict, enactment, or the like: to prohibit the sale of liquor. Taboo, primarily associated with primitive superstition, means to prohibit by common disapproval and by social custom: to taboo a subject in polite conversation.
Other Word Forms
- forbiddance noun
- forbidder noun
Etymology
Origin of forbid
First recorded before 1000; Middle English forbeden, Old English forbēodan. See for-, bid 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A government notice said junta chief Min Aung Hlaing ordered releases of more than 7,300 prisoners convicted under legislation forbidding "financing of terrorism" and harbouring or arranging transport for "any terrorist group".
From Barron's
Horning said he grew up in a strict Seventh-day Adventist household in Northern California, forbidden from reading anything other than the Bible and approved nonfiction.
Just this once, I made an exception to the Journal rule that forbids showing sources advance copy and sent the draft to Greenspan’s spokesman for a gut check.
From Barron's
Since 1996 Cambodian law has forbidden the unauthorised removal of antiquities, with a prison punishment of up to eight years.
From Barron's
Except in very restricted circumstances, slurry spreading is forbidden in Northern Ireland from 15 October to the following 31 January.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
