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View synonyms for

forbid

[ fer-bid, fawr- ]

verb (used with object)

forbade or forbad or forbid, forbidden or forbid, forbidding.
  1. 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:

  2. to prohibit (something); make a rule or law against:

    to forbid the use of lipstick; to forbid smoking.

    Synonyms:

  3. to hinder or prevent; make impossible.

    Synonyms: , , ,

  4. to exclude; bar:

    Burlesque is forbidden in many cities.



forbid

/ əˈɪ /

verb

  1. to prohibit (a person) in a forceful or authoritative manner (from doing something or having something)
  2. to make impossible; hinder
  3. to shut out or exclude
  4. God forbid!
    may it not happen
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Derived Forms

  • ڴǰˈ, noun
  • ڴǰˈ岹Գ, noun
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Other Word Forms

  • ڴǰ·d noun
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Word History and Origins

Origin of forbid1

First recorded before 1000; Middle English forbeden, Old English ڴǰŧǻ岹. See for-, bid 1
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Word History and Origins

Origin of forbid1

Old English ڴǰŧǻ岹 ; related to Old High German farbiotan , Gothic faurbiudan ; see for- , bid
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Idioms and Phrases

see god forbid .
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Synonym Study

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.
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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s guidance forbidding DEI efforts in K-12 public schools, impacting California and other states.

From

Among other things, that policy forbids investigators from accessing “reporters’ phone records to try to identify the sources for stories that describe classified information.”

From

The Los Angeles City Council also backed a “sanctuary city” law that forbids city employees and resources from being involved in federal immigration enforcement.

From

“Students were forbidden to speak their traditional languages at the schools and forced to learn English. Sometimes teachers would wash students’ mouths out with lye soap.”

From

While other states, including Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, have allowed wolf hunts to resume, California still forbids ranchers from taking aggressive measures to stop the predators.

From

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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.

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for better or for worseforbiddance