adj, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The act by which something is forbidden; a prohibition.

   "But all these poor forbiddings could not stay him;"

2. 2
   an official prohibition or edict against something wordnet

Verb

1. 1
   present participle and gerund of forbid form-of, gerund, participle, present

Adjective

1. 1
   Appearing to be threatening, unfriendly or potentially unpleasant.

   "What cause, cry’d he, can justify our flight, To tempt the dangers of forbidding night?"

Adjective

1. 1
   threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments wordnet
2. 2
   harshly uninviting or formidable in manner or appearance wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

threateningunpleasantabhorrentabominablealoofaustere

Antonyms

All antonyms

approachableinvitingwelcoming

Example

More examples

"There is a very strict rule forbidding smoking in bed."

Etymology

By surface analysis, forbid + -ing.

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