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
-
had bannedperfect
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was banningprogressive
-
were banningprogressive
-
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 legal fight over the press ban itself is proceeding on a parallel and even more consequential track.
From Salon ● Sep. 24, 2026
Security Council could implement to cooperate on AI safety, such as an international ban on using AI to develop biological weapons and the creation of evaluation systems to track global AI progress.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
Landfill capacity in Scotland has been shrinking as operators wind down their operations ahead of a forthcoming ban on sending black bag waste to landfill sites.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is considering a ban on U.S. diesel exports.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
Inside the White House, however, the standing of Harold Stassen, the most vociferous advocate of the test ban, had slipped.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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
Particularly is this the case with the inscriptions of Sennacherib and Ashur bani apal.
From Assyrian Historiography by A. T. (Albert Ten Eyck) Olmstead
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
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
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
Overfishing ensued, leading to rapidly depleted supplies and bans on wild-caught sturgeon.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
Other deaths have occurred in North Carolina and Georgia, states with bans less restrictive than Texas’.
From Salon ● Sep. 17, 2026
The percentage of civil verdicts that dealt with exit bans also surged more than 30 times between 2019 and 2025, from around 0.23% to 7.3%.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
At the same time, he is ambivalent about the efficacy of outright bans on school devices.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
In September, with my bans ended, I decided to take advantage of my freedom and get a respite from the city.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Your books have meant so much to so many people, and in recent years, I’ve reported quite a bit on your book, “Looking for Alaska,” being one of the most commonly banned books.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
The British Museum has banned visitors from taking photographs of the Bayeux Tapestry over concerns that they were taking too long to view the historic work.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
A federal judge named Timothy Kelly will hear the three banned outlets’ lawsuit.
From Slate ● Sep. 21, 2026
Asheville has backed reparations for slavery, protested Immigration and Customs Enforcement and banned discrimination based on gender identity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
I’d been banned from swimming while I was having all my operations.
From "Ugly" by Robert Hoge
Security Council to consider narrow agreements banning the use of AI for certain tasks, including creating biological weapons.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
Australia is considering banning the use of smart glasses with camera recording abilities in government offices, as privacy fears over the technology grow.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
A proposed new law -- to be formally presented Thursday -- would mean banning minors under 15 from opening their own accounts, with a tiered system of access under parental supervision for younger children.
From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026
“This issue of banning YouTube in the classroom is personal to me,” said Krishnan, who said he’s seen the impact of unrestricted access to school devices on his own young children.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
But upon his arrival in Johannesburg, he was served with a banning order forcing him to return to Natal.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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.
