forbid
Americanverb (used with object)
-
forbids,
present (3rd person singular)
-
forbade,
past participle, past
-
forbid,
past participle, past
-
forbad,
past (Archaic)
-
forbidden,
past participle
-
forbidding
present participle
-
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:
- interdict
-
to prohibit (something); make a rule or law against.
to forbid the use of lipstick; to forbid smoking.
- Synonyms:
- interdict
-
to hinder or prevent; make impossible.
-
to exclude; bar.
Burlesque is forbidden in many cities.
verb
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to prohibit (a person) in a forceful or authoritative manner (from doing something or having something)
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to make impossible; hinder
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to shut out or exclude
-
may it not happen
Synonym Usage
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.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
forbidsimple
-
forbidssimple
-
have forbadeperfect
-
have forbidperfect
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have forbiddenperfect
-
has forbadeperfect
-
has forbidperfect
-
has forbiddenperfect
-
am forbiddingprogressive
-
are forbiddingprogressive
-
is forbiddingprogressive
-
have been forbiddingperfect progressive
-
has been forbiddingperfect progressive
Past
-
forbadsimple
-
forbadesimple
-
forbidsimple
-
had forbadeperfect
-
had forbidperfect
-
had forbiddenperfect
-
was forbiddingprogressive
-
were forbiddingprogressive
-
had been forbiddingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of forbid
First recorded before 1000; Middle English forbeden, Old English forbēodan. See for-, bid 1
Explanation
When you forbid something, you refuse to allow it. You might have heard your parents say things like, "I forbid you to play ball in the house!" or "I forbid you to have any more parties when we're not home!" Forbid comes from the Old English word forbeodan, meaning "forbid, prohibit." Forbid can also mean "prevent" or "keep from happening." The spare tire on your car will forbid you from driving any faster than 40 miles an hour — any faster and the car will shake. You may have heard forbid used in the expression "God forbid . . ." This refers to something you hope will not happen, so much so that you're asking God for a little help.
Vocabulary lists containing forbid
Beowulf vocabulary
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"The Tragedy of Macbeth," Vocabulary from Act 1
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"Names/Nombres" by Julia Alvarez
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"Sometimes a ban makes things worse. Protesting is a right -- it's like with children, when you forbid something, it becomes even more tempting," one employee remarked to AFP.
From Barron's ● Oct. 24, 2026
But none of the updates have attracted as much attention or scrutiny as its move to forbid users abusing its chatbots.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
Heaven forbid, should you and your husband predecease your mother, what happens to the house she lives in?
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026
Against the risks of didacticism — or, God forbid, “preachiness” — I’ll take the productive tension of the occasional cliché or bald statement of purpose.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026
“Lord forbid that I should want anything for not standing in Pip’s way,” said Joe, staring.
From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
He cited the Administrative Procedure Act, which forbids abrupt and “arbitrary” changes in federal regulations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026
The three media organisations have argued that the ban breaches their rights under the First Amendment, which forbids the government from "abridging" the freedom of the press.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
"There is a regulatory vacuum because Article 4 of the 1967 treaty only forbids weapons of mass destruction and nuclear weapons in orbit," said space law expert Laetitia Cesari.
From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026
Trump officials say any such favoritism violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a federal law that forbids discrimination in education and was created to fight segregation and its impact.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
The Fourth Amendment, the court reasoned, forbids the police from seizing people and searching them without some individualized suspicion that they have committed or are committing a crime.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
The Meyer decision, for example, overturned a Nebraska law which forbad teaching non-English languages in public and private schools.
From Slate ● Nov. 1, 2022
Above all, in Italy, a continuity of lineage, of language, of local names, and in part of civilisation and law, forbad the thought that the great Roman people had ceased to be.
From Dante. An essay. To which is added a translation of De Monarchia. by R. W. (Richard William) Church
For this cause the King was displeased with Thurstine, and forbad him to returne into the Realme.
From The Lives of the III Normans, Kings of England: William the First, William the Second, Henrie the First by John Hayward
Honour forbad her to take advantage of this ignorance; but the struggle threw her into agonies of grief.
From Ghosts and Family Legends A Volume for Christmas by Catherine Crowe
It was evidently the interest of England, that this superb collection should remain within three days journey of London; but the principle "suum cuique" forbad it.
From Four Years in France or, Narrative of an English Family's Residence there during that Period; Preceded by some Account of the Conversion of the Author to the Catholic Faith by Henry Digby Beste
Yet he is so bad at ABS challenges that manager Dave Roberts forbade Pages from challenging pitches after his unsuccessful challenge in the NL Division Series opener Monday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
Father Clement Thibault, Babs’s priest-mentor since childhood, is defrocked for publicly supporting the strikers after the church hierarchy forbade him from taking sides; the priest then begins a separate campaign to expose ecclesiastical misbehavior.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
The reason for the separation between the businesses, Corley added, had to do with a defunct local law that forbade the two establishments existing under one umbrella.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2026
That’s because the rule never forbade criticism of the SEC, but only a defendant’s attempt to deny the allegations or facts in a settlement that it “neither admitted nor denied.”
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 17, 2026
The Catholic Church forbade its young people to join the Hitler Youth.
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Conversations with others is one thing, and watching movies without headphones is forbidden, but dictating out loud when she could type is an irritating loophole.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026
Gender segregation is standard practice for many Orthodox Jews but is forbidden in public places by the government of socially liberal Tel Aviv.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
He said his parents were deeply religious and so strict that even simple pleasures such as singing were forbidden.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
But, for the 23-year-old, it is also a passage into a different, freer world - where she can find answers to forbidden questions.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Even the ever-candid Adams recognized that this was the forbidden topic, the one piece of ground declared off-limits by mutual consent.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
F1 drivers' contracts usually have clauses in them forbidding them from doing 'dangerous sports', such as skiing or scuba diving, although not every driver's contract is the same.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
Daniels isn’t pleased, informing LSU through his attorney that he “feels profoundly disrespected” and forbidding the school to use his name, image and likeness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
If your niece’s mother lives there rent-free, the trustee should be comfortable that doing so benefits your niece and there should be no rules forbidding it.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
The cultural chasm between Europeans and Africans presented obstacles to conversion, and a long legacy of church practice forbidding the enslavement of fellow Christians provided grounds to leave slaves in unbelief.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
At least, not in a way that wouldn’t end with Dad forbidding us to hang out with him.
From "The Season of Styx Malone" by Kekla Magoon
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