verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of debar
1400–50; late Middle English < Middle French, Old French desbarrer to lock out, bar. See de-, bar 1
Explanation
To debar is to officially bar, ban, or exclude someone from doing something. Debar can also mean to prevent something from happening. If you have a hat club, you can debar anyone who’s not wearing one. If someone is barred from entering, they are prevented from entering. Oddly enough, to debar them means the same thing. If you're debarred from a school, you can no longer attend. If a politician is debarred from office, they've been thrown out. You can also debar events. Eating well and exercising can debar many health problems. This kind of debarring means the same as averting. People try to debar negative things from happening.
Vocabulary lists containing debar
Paradise Lost
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Emily of New Moon
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A Room of One's Own
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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.
It is relatively rare for HHS to debar an NIH grantee.
From Science Magazine • May 15, 2024
The agency also is seeking to debar the company’s principal officer, Dick Cattani.
From Washington Post • Jan. 4, 2017
You would think that views like that might just debar you from holding that office, but no.
From BBC • Nov. 8, 2015
“Sexual orientation does not debar anyone from God’s love,” it said in a statement in March.
From New York Times • May 22, 2015
It grieves me much, I own, to debar a gallant gentleman from sharing in a field like this.
From Agincourt The Works of G. P. R. James, Volume XX by James, G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford)
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.
