forbid
Americanverb (used with object)
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forbids,
present (3rd person singular)
-
forbade,
past participle, past
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forbid,
past participle, past
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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.
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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
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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
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forbidsimple
-
forbidssimple
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have forbadeperfect
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have forbidperfect
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have forbiddenperfect
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has forbadeperfect
-
has forbidperfect
-
has forbiddenperfect
-
am forbiddingprogressive
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are forbiddingprogressive
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is forbiddingprogressive
-
have been forbiddingperfect progressive
-
has been forbiddingperfect progressive
Past
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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:
Scarier yet, it’s possible that someone—or, heaven forbid, some A.I. detector—might mistake my text for ChatGPT’s.
From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026
But it sets no quotas and doesn’t forbid the recruitment of “white and Asian men already trained in the field.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Heaven forbid any parents nowadays expect their child to do the same.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
If, heaven forbid, something breaks or gets stolen, it will be your responsibility.
From MarketWatch ● May 28, 2026
Heaven forbid that the clothes had a wrinkle.
From Full of Beans by Jennifer L. Holm
One key statute forbids the erection of any building or structure on federal grounds in the District of Columbia without express permission from Congress.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
International law generally forbids tolling in such waterways.
From Barron's ● Aug. 8, 2026
The department has long had a policy that forbids retaliation against officers who report misconduct.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
A super-injunction is a court-mandated gagging order that forbids news outlets from reporting private or sensitive information.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
One hospital writes back about a hippopotamus law that forbids them from telling me anything.
From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko
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
His Majesty easily imagin'd that the Queen had been surpriz'd; and being justly angry with Bassompierre, forbad him the Court.
But the chapter refused him obedience, and the States of Holland forbad him to exercise any official function, and under threat of banishment of all Jesuits demanded the immediate return of the archbishop.
From Church History, Vol. 3 of 3 by J. H. Kurtz
Prudence forbad him to approve, we are told, what kindness would not suffer him to prohibit.
From Letters on the Improvement of the Mind, Addressed to a Lady by Hester Chapone
Among uninhabitable plains, the traveller is struck by the ruins of innumerable castles and villages, monuments of a time when pestilence was either unfelt, or had at least not forbad the residence of mankind.
From View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages, Vol. 3 by Henry Hallam
After the judge forbade them from using certain PowerPoint slides, Halem’s former attorneys decided against presenting an opening statement to jurors, scuttling any possibility of a favorable outcome, Weimortz said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 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
Mr. Ahamed is sure it would have helped, but the spirit of the times resisted it and the law of the land forbade it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
“Why, I owe at least a dozen pickled limes, and I can’t pay them, you know, till I have money, for Marmee forbade my having anything charged at the shop.”
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
A defense of yelling in restaurants: It’s a forbidden behavior in today’s restaurants—but Amanda Albee spoke to chefs who say it massively improved their careers.
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026
This wasn’t just because a third term is forbidden by the Constitution.
From Salon ● Aug. 19, 2026
“They haven’t forbidden me from continuing, but they’ve made it clear it’s in my best interests not to,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
The statement said Del Naja and Marshall would “be banned from re-entering Singapore” and are forbidden from performing there again.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
"There's a whole storeroom filled with forbidden books. Rows and rows of them."
From "The Boy Who Dared" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
In May the Justice Ministry invoked its new anti-extraterritorial-jurisdiction rules for the first time, forbidding Chinese entities from cooperating with the European Commission’s investigation, under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation, into Chinese security-equipment maker Nuctech.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 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
We argued that the government shouldn’t be allowed to punish American citizens while forbidding them from publicly disputing the accusations, aside from grave matters of national security.
From Barron's ● Jun. 3, 2026
The dark hazel eyes stared down at her, forbidding her to speak.
From "Homecoming" by Cynthia Voigt
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.
