forbidding

American  

[fer-bid-ing, fawr-] / fərˈbɪd ɪŋ, fɔr- /

adjective

1. grim; unfriendly; hostile; sinister.

   his forbidding countenance.

2. dangerous; threatening.

   forbidding clouds; forbidding cliffs.

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forbidding British  

/ fəˈbɪdɪŋ /

adjective

1. hostile or unfriendly

2. dangerous or ominous

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Other Word Forms

• forbiddingly adverb
• forbiddingness noun
• unforbidding adjective

Etymology

Origin of forbidding

First recorded in 1710–15; forbid + -ing ²

Example Sentences

The sale comes after the French government took a step to distance itself from U.S. tech companies: forbidding government agencies from using U.S. videoconferencing services such as Zoom or Microsoft’s Teams.

From The Wall Street Journal

The closer they got, the more wild and forbidding the mountain looked.

From Literature

Mr. Kempt, who worked as a criminal lawyer in the Arctic for almost two decades, conjures this forbidding landscape and its residents with artful authority.

From The Wall Street Journal

Creators can also set their own personal boundaries—such as forbidding questions about their personal lives.

From The Wall Street Journal

Hollywood unions and companies have supported legislation forbidding AI-generated replicas of people without their permission.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• frightening
• grim
• menacing
• off-putting
• sinister
• threatening