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Forbidden City

American

noun

a walled section of Peking (now Beijing), built in the 15th century, containing the imperial palace and other buildings of the imperial government of China.

Forbidden City British

noun

Lhasa, Tibet: once famed for its inaccessibility and hostility to strangers
a walled section of Beijing, China, enclosing the Imperial Palace and associated buildings of the former Chinese Empire

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of Forbidden City

First recorded in 1845–50

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.

On Thursday, Merz is to visit Beijing's Forbidden City, then a Mercedes plant where autonomously driving vehicles will be presented.

From Barron's • Feb. 24, 2026

Just north of the Temple of Heaven is the Forbidden City, where Chinese emperors lived for almost 500 years.

From BBC • Nov. 18, 2024

Kristina Backman, Mankato West class of 1998, went on one of those nearly three-week-long trips, during which they visited the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, and Hong Kong.

From Slate • Aug. 7, 2024

The mortar that holds together some of China’s most famous structures — including the Great Wall and the Forbidden City — includes traces of starch from sticky rice.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 2, 2023

He opened like the great gates of the Forbidden City.

From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023