Forbid

//fɚˈbɪd// verb

verb ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To disallow; to proscribe. transitive

    "Smoking in the restaurant is forbidden."

  2. 2
    command against wordnet
  3. 3
    To deny, exclude from, or warn off, by express command. ditransitive

    "Have I not forbid her my house?"

  4. 4
    keep from happening or arising; make impossible wordnet
  5. 5
    To oppose, hinder, or prevent, as if by an effectual command. transitive

    "An impassable river forbids the approach of the army."

Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    To accurse; to blast. obsolete, transitive

    "He shall live a man forbid."

  2. 7
    To defy; to challenge. obsolete, transitive

    "What part of "no" do you forbid to understand?"

Synonyms

All synonyms
bandisallowdisallowpreventprohibitprohibit

Example

More examples

"I cannot forbid a person to marry several wives, for it does not contradict Scripture."

Etymology

From Middle English forbeden, from Old English forbēodan (“to forbid, prohibit, restrain, refuse, repeal, annul”), from Proto-Germanic *furibeudaną, from *furi + *beudaną. Equivalent to for- (“from, away”) + bid (“to offer, proclaim”). Cognate with Dutch verbieden (“to forbid”), German verbieten (“to forbid”), Danish forbyde (“to forbid”), Norwegian Bokmål forby (“to forbid”), Swedish förbjuda (“to forbid”), Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌱𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌽 (faurbiudan). Related to forbode.

Related phrases

God forbidGoddess forbidheaven forbidunacceptable action

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.