prohibition

[ proh-uh-bish-uhn ]

noun

1. the act of prohibiting.
2. the legal prohibiting of the manufacture and sale of alcoholic drinks for common consumption.
3. Often Prohibition. the period (1920–33) when the Eighteenth Amendment was in force and alcoholic beverages could not legally be manufactured, transported, or sold in the United States.
4. a law or decree that forbids.

   Synonyms: interdiction

prohibition

¹

/ ˌprəʊɪˈbɪʃən /

noun

1. the act of prohibiting or state of being prohibited
2. an order or decree that prohibits
3. sometimes capital (esp in the US) a policy of legally forbidding the manufacture, transportation, sale, or consumption of alcoholic beverages except for medicinal or scientific purposes
4. law an order of a superior court (in Britain the High Court) forbidding an inferior court to determine a matter outside its jurisdiction

Prohibition

²

/ ˌprəʊɪˈbɪʃən /

noun

1. the period (1920–33) when the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquors was banned by constitutional amendment in the US

Prohibition

1. The outlawing of alcoholic beverages nationwide from 1920 to 1933, under an amendment to the Constitution . The amendment, enforced by the Volstead Act, was repealed by another amendment to the Constitution in 1933.

Notes

Prohibition is often mentioned in discussions of how much social change can be brought about through law, because alcohol was widely, though illegally, produced and sold during Prohibition; it was served privately in the White House under President Warren Harding , for example.

Many use the example of Prohibition to argue that more harm than good comes from the enactment of laws that are sure to be widely disobeyed.

Some states and localities (called “dry”) had outlawed the production and sale of alcohol before the Prohibition amendment was adopted. The repealing amendment allowed individual states and localities to remain “dry,” and some did for many years.

Derived Forms

• ˌprohiˈbitionary, adjective
• ˌProhiˈbitionist, noun

Other Words From

• prohi·bition·ary adjective
• anti·prohi·bition adjective noun
• nonpro·hi·bition noun
• prepro·hi·bition noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of prohibition¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English, from Latin prohibitiōn-, stem of prohibitiō “prevention”; equivalent to prohibit + -ion

Example Sentences

The trade flouts a March 2014 prohibition on all exports of weaponry and military equipment to Moscow.

From The Daily Beast

By the time Prohibition was on the menu, we were very much an “alcoholic Republic.”

From The Daily Beast

The trend is clear: Marijuana prohibition is coming to an end.

From The Daily Beast

While the end of prohibition brought an end to the alcohol black market in America, the ubiquity of it brought its own problems.

From The Daily Beast

After the end of Prohibition in 1933, alcohol was once again legal throughout Arkansas.

From The Daily Beast

Now, the whole Northwest groaned beneath a cast-iron prohibition law at that time, and for some years thereafter.

From Project Gutenberg

In 1903 this prohibition to foreigners was disputed by a British bank-clerk who arrived in Manila for a foreign bank.

From Project Gutenberg

The inferior quality of this growth at length caused its prohibition by law, as described elsewhere in this work.

From Project Gutenberg

In 1914, the General Assembly voted for a state-wide law providing for the prohibition of liquor.

From Project Gutenberg

These rules might be of any kind, including (subject to exceptions) a total prohibition, then or at any future time.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• constraint
• embargo
• exclusion
• injunction
• prevention
• proscription
• restriction
• taboo
• veto