forbidverb [ T ]
uk/fəˈbɪd/us/fɚˈbɪd/present participle forbidding, past tense forbade or old use forbad, past participle forbiddenB2 to refuse to allow something, especially officially, or to prevent a particular plan of action by making it impossible:
The law forbids the sale of cigarettes to people under the age of 16.
[ + to infinitive ] He's obviously really embarrassed about it because he forbade me to tell anyone.
He is forbidden from leaving the country.
More examples
- I forbid you to marry him!
- Diplomatic etiquette forbids calling for the death of a national leader.
- She does a lot of work for charities, but her modesty forbids her from talking about it.
- City Ordinance 126 forbids car parking in this area of New York.
- She obtained a restraining order forbidding her partner from seeing their two children.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Forbidding and banning things
- abolish
- abolitionist
- ban
- bar
- blacklist
- clean
- clean (sth) up
- curfew
- debar
- deny
- disallow
- disqualify
- nix
- out of bounds idiom
- outlaw
- prohibit
- prohibition
- proscribe
- unauthorized
- veto
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Idiom(s)
God forbid