taboo

American  

[tuh-boo, ta-] / təˈbu, tæ- /

Or tabu

adjective

1. proscribed by society as improper or unacceptable.

   Taboo language is usually bleeped on TV.

   Synonyms:

   forbidden

   Antonyms:

   permissible, allowed

2. prohibited or excluded from use or practice.

   In art school, painting from photographs was taboo.

3. (among the Polynesians and other peoples of the South Pacific) separated or set apart as sacred; forbidden for general use; placed under a prohibition or ban.

   Synonyms:

   inviolable, sacrosanct

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noun

• taboos
  plural

1. a prohibition or interdiction of anything; exclusion from use or practice.

   One of the strongest taboos in all modern societies is against incest.

   Synonyms:

   no-no, interdiction, embargo, proscription, ban

2. (among the Polynesians and other peoples of the South Pacific)

   1. the system, practice, or act whereby things are set apart as sacred, forbidden for general use, or placed under a prohibition or interdiction.

   2. the condition of being so set apart, forbidden, or interdicted.

3. exclusion from social relations; ostracism.

verb (used with object)

• taboos,
  present (3rd person singular)
• tabooed,
  past participle,  past
• tabooing
  present participle

1. to put under a taboo; prohibit or forbid.

   Synonyms:

   proscribe, forbid, ban, prohibit

   Antonyms:

   sanction, permit, allow

2. to ostracize (a person, group, etc.).

   While he is tabooed, no one may speak to him.

taboo British  

/ təˈbuː /

adjective

1. forbidden or disapproved of; placed under a social prohibition or ban

   taboo words

2. (in Polynesia and other islands of the South Pacific) marked off as simultaneously sacred and forbidden

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noun

1. any prohibition resulting from social or other conventions

2. ritual restriction or prohibition, esp of something that is considered holy or unclean

verb

1. (tr) to place under a taboo

taboo Cultural  

1. A descriptive term for words, objects, actions, or people that are forbidden by a group or culture. The expression comes from the religion of islanders of the South Pacific.

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Usage

What is taboo? Taboo describes an activity or behavior that is considered completely unacceptable or forbidden. A taboo is also the prohibition from engaging in such an activity or behavior through social rules, laws, religious doctrine, and even by your own conscience. Something considered taboo is considered unacceptable by the vast majority of a person’s social group. Often, there is a serious punishment for performing the taboo activity. Many activities that we refer to as crimes are examples of taboos, such as theft, murder, and kidnapping. These activities are considered unacceptable by the government or the law and have strict punishments. Sacred religious writings also outline specific activities as taboo and shouldn’t be done by the religion’s followers. For example, Jewish law considers pork to be taboo, so many Jewish people do not eat pork. Sometimes, taboos are so unacceptable to a society that laws are not needed to forbid people from doing them. Even thinking about them or reading about them can make you feel disgusted, which gives you an idea of how powerful the label of taboo can be.

Synonym Usage

See forbid.

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• taboos
  plural

Participles

• tabooing
  present
• tabooed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• taboo
  simple
• taboos
  simple
• have tabooed
  perfect
• has tabooed
  perfect
• am tabooing
  progressive
• are tabooing
  progressive
• is tabooing
  progressive
• have been tabooing
  perfect progressive
• has been tabooing
  perfect progressive

Past

• tabooed
  simple
• had tabooed
  perfect
• was tabooing
  progressive
• were tabooing
  progressive
• had been tabooing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will taboo
  simple
• will have tabooed
  perfect
• will be tabooing
  progressive
• will have been tabooing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of taboo

First recorded in 1770–80; from Tongan tabu “forbidden, prohibited”; the spellings tabu and taboo both appear in Captain James Cook's journal in 1777

Explanation

Something considered taboo is naughty, something society considers a no-no. For example, it is taboo to ask people how much money they earn. Taboo is one of those rare words in the English language that doesn't have Greek or Latin or French roots, coming instead from the South Pacific Islands in the eighteenth century via the explorer Captain Cook. For many islanders some things were tabu, meaning not only could they not be done but they could not be talked about either for risk of offending the Gods. This latter meaning still applies today (minus the spiritual underpinning), when we say that certain subjects are "taboo," meaning off-limits for discussion.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

taboo taboos tabooed tabooing

For decades, the ordeal was a family taboo, something Lin only learned about later in his life.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

“I want for it not to be taboo to ask, ‘What is the accountability for these women?’

From Slate ● Aug. 7, 2026

Sceptics initially saw the cloning as "taboo" disruptions of nature, Shoichi Ikeno, head of local diving company Lagoon, told AFP.

From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026

The pair came into the relationship with very different attitudes to money - Hannah's family discuss finances openly whereas for Max, "money was totally taboo".

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

Just by talking without a chaperone present, we were committing a social taboo.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

“I think when you are making a film that is confronting one of the ultimate taboos in cinema, you’re going to have a tough time,” he says.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 31, 2026

"It's also a film about the transmission of generational trauma across three generations in a family, and how taboos, unspoken things and secrets travel."

From Barron's ● Feb. 16, 2026

She says teaching CPR and defibrillator use is vital for breaking taboos and tackling inequalities.

From BBC ● Dec. 29, 2025

They are full of young people—many already natural risk-takers—with time to kill, disposable income and few taboos when it comes to talking about personal finance, since military pay is public and based on rank.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 1, 2025

‘Hey, I don’t know. Some Cherokee taboos were permanent no-no’s, like killing eagles.’

From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan

At the Harvard College library, the only copy was removed from the shelves “and kept under lock and key with other tabooed books,” Justin Kaplan wrote in “Walt Whitman. A Life.”

From Washington Post ● Apr. 30, 2022

Despite being one of the world’s favorite food categories — both nutritionally complete and widely considered tasty — meat is also the most tabooed food across many cultures.

From New York Times ● Dec. 27, 2021

He walks around that tabooed subject more carefully than a cat around a saucer of cream.

From Time Magazine Archive

Sigmund Freud tackled the tabooed problem like a scientific poet, using words to dig up the roots of personality and family ties.

From Time Magazine Archive

He had mentioned a tabooed subject and I wanted to wait until I knew what he meant.

From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright

But to guard against the possibility of any visual profanation, Donjalolo had authorized an edict, forever tabooing that rock to foot of man or pinion of fowl.

From Mardi: and A Voyage Thither, Vol. I by Herman Melville

Instead of tabooing our impulses, we must redirect them.

From A Preface to Politics by Walter Lippmann

It's the only way to deal with these tabooing chiefs.

From The British Barbarians by Grant Allen

But I can't lose a day of this wonder, and fortunately dear Aunt Ann never dreams of tabooing my sight-seeing.

From Against Odds A Detective Story by Lawrence L. Lynch

But that's always the way in tabooing societies.

From The British Barbarians by Grant Allen

Related Words

• anathema
• inhibition
• no-no
• prohibition
• stricture
• superstition