ban
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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bans,
present (3rd person singular)
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banned,
past participle, past
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banning
present participle
noun
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the act of prohibiting by law; interdiction.
- Synonyms:
- taboo, interdict, proscription, prohibition
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informal denunciation or prohibition, as by public opinion.
society's ban on racial discrimination.
- Synonyms:
- taboo
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Law.
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a proclamation.
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a public condemnation.
-
-
Ecclesiastical. a formal condemnation; excommunication.
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a malediction; curse.
noun
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a public proclamation or edict.
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Ecclesiastical. bans, banns.
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(in the feudal system)
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the summoning of the sovereign's vassals for military service.
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the body of vassals summoned.
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noun
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(formerly) the governor of Croatia and Slavonia.
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History/Historical. a provincial governor of the southern marches of Hungary.
noun
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bani
plural
verb
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(tr) to prohibit, esp officially, from action, display, entrance, sale, etc; forbid
to ban a book
to ban smoking
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(tr) (formerly in South Africa) to place (a person suspected of illegal political activity) under a government order restricting his movement and his contact with other people
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archaic to curse
noun
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an official prohibition or interdiction
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law an official proclamation or public notice, esp of prohibition
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a public proclamation or edict, esp of outlawry
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archaic public censure or condemnation
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archaic a curse; imprecation
noun
noun
Usage
What does ban mean? To ban is to forbid or prohibit something or someone, as in Fatima banned her children from using screens after 9 pm so they wouldn’ stay up all night playing video games. A ban is a law or rule that prohibits, or bans, something, as in The winter parking ban starts on December 1. A ban can also be an informal prohibition, such as by public opinion. Example: We had to ban the use of power tools for school projects after an unfortunate incident in shop class.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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bansimple
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banssimple
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have bannedperfect
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has bannedperfect
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am banningprogressive
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are banningprogressive
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is banningprogressive
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have been banningperfect progressive
-
has been banningperfect progressive
Past
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bannedsimple
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had bannedperfect
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was banningprogressive
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were banningprogressive
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had been banningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ban1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English bannen, Old English bannan “to summon, proclaim”; cognate with Old Norse banna to curse (probably influencing some senses of Middle English word), Old High German bannan; akin to Latin fārī “to speak,” Sanskrit bhanati “(he) speaks”
Origin of ban2
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English, ban, ban(n)e, iban “a lord's proclamation or edict or summons,” Old English (ge)ban(n) “proclamation, ordinance, summons to arms” (derivative of bannan ); influenced in some senses by Old French ban (Anglicized as ban ), from the same Germanic source; see ban 1
Origin of ban3
First recorded in 1605–15; from Serbo-Croatian bân, contracted from unattested bojan, bajan, said to be from a Turkic personal name, perhaps introduced into the Balkans by the Avars; compare Medieval Greek bo(e)ános “governor”
Origin of ban4
First recorded in 1960–65; from Romanian, of uncertain origin, perhaps from Serbo-Croatian bân “provincial governor”; see origin at ban 3
Explanation
The verb to ban means to forbid something from being or happening. The word can also be used as a noun. A school board might put a ban on all books that refer to Jefferson's mistress if they don't want anyone reading about her. If your parents are upset by how much time you spend online, they might ban computers in the house. But if you're smart, you can just use your phone or laptop at school. To ban something is to put a ban on it. Something with a ban on it is said to be banned. A ban can vary from your grandmother's ban on people wearing shoes in her house to a government's ban on printing certain stories in the newspaper.
Vocabulary lists containing ban
100 SAT Words Beginning with "B"
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"The Civil Rights Movement"
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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
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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:
The mass recalls are in line with China's plan to ban hidden door handles on cars from January 1, 2027, local media reports said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026
Polestar is currently selling off its existing cars at steep discounts, as the ban affects cars from the 2027 model year onward.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
Earlier this month, France's top court struck down a similar proposed social media ban, saying it infringed upon freedom of expression.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
The French government said Monday it would press ahead with a ban on mobile phones in high schools from next month, but trade unions warned that the measure might be hard to implement quickly.
From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026
Such police conduct, the Court concluded, does not violate the Fourth Amendment’s ban on “unreasonable searches and seizures.”
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
By then—that would have been 1995—the Shorawi were defeated and long gone and Kabul belonged to Massoud, Rab- bani, and the Mujahedin.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
He was of the Dārim, one of the most respected divisions of the bani Tamīm, and his mother was of the tribe of Ḍabba.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 2 "Fairbanks, Erastus" to "Fens" by Various
In the true Bedouin spirit he devoted his talent largely to satire and attacked the bani Nahshal and the bani Fuqaim.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 2 "Fairbanks, Erastus" to "Fens" by Various
The king sent the bani of Bosnia and Croatia to help them, but the Venetian senate bought the rescuers off!
From The Shores of the Adriatic The Austrian Side, The Küstenlande, Istria, and Dalmatia by F. Hamilton (Frederick Hamilton) Jackson
Particularly is this the case with the inscriptions of Sennacherib and Ashur bani apal.
From Assyrian Historiography by A. T. (Albert Ten Eyck) Olmstead
The US distillers association reported similar numbers - saying provincial bans have caused exports of American spirits to drop by more than 70%.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
Describing the system as "awful," he made clear repeatedly his opinion that both Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek received overly lenient bans after their recent high-profile doping cases.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
The council vote this week rescinded the bans in discretionary zones, which had been established at the urging of former District 13 Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell, who was defeated for reelection by Soto-Martínez in 2022.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
A poll this month from Abacus Data found that nearly 70% of Canadians support keeping the bans in place.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
My bans were due to expire two days after the adjournment.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
France has already banned children from using mobile phones in colleges -- the schools attended between the ages of 11 and 15 -- and in primary schools.
From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026
In a country where girls are banned from secondary education, the 18-year-old argues her case calmly and confidently, her face completely hidden behind a full-face veil and sunglasses.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
"If it were up to me, there would be mandatory military service," said a mayor in Honduras who banned the battles.
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
In June 2023, the state legislature passed a law that banned non-compete agreements for nearly all employees regardless of salary.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026
The network should be banned from presenting such a program ever again, she wrote.
From "Spooked!" by Gail Jarrow
New Zealand's government will introduce legislation on Monday banning under 16s from using social media, joining a number of countries seeking to keep youngsters off sites such as Instagram and TikTok.
From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026
In July, France's parliament approved legislation banning both social media access for children under 15 and mobile phone use in high schools.
From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026
Gallyamov, the former Kremlin speechwriter, said that banning Yabloko may prove risky for the Kremlin.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
The two sides have been at an impasse on several issues, including US tariffs on autos, and many Canadian provinces banning American liquor sales.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
Washington, he wrote, is the only state to have passed a law banning drivers from texting while driving, while a handful of states had banned such behavior with drivers with learner’s permits.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
