taboo
Americanadjective
-
proscribed by society as improper or unacceptable.
Taboo language is usually bleeped on TV.
- Synonyms:
- forbidden
- Antonyms:
- permissible, allowed
-
prohibited or excluded from use or practice.
In art school, painting from photographs was taboo.
-
(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
noun
-
taboos
plural
-
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
-
(among the Polynesians and other peoples of the South Pacific)
-
the system, practice, or act whereby things are set apart as sacred, forbidden for general use, or placed under a prohibition or interdiction.
-
the condition of being so set apart, forbidden, or interdicted.
-
-
exclusion from social relations; ostracism.
verb (used with object)
-
taboos,
present (3rd person singular)
-
tabooed,
past participle, past
-
tabooing
present participle
adjective
-
forbidden or disapproved of; placed under a social prohibition or ban
taboo words
-
(in Polynesia and other islands of the South Pacific) marked off as simultaneously sacred and forbidden
noun
-
any prohibition resulting from social or other conventions
-
ritual restriction or prohibition, esp of something that is considered holy or unclean
verb
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
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
taboosimple
-
taboossimple
-
have tabooedperfect
-
has tabooedperfect
-
am tabooingprogressive
-
are tabooingprogressive
-
is tabooingprogressive
-
have been tabooingperfect progressive
-
has been tabooingperfect progressive
Past
-
tabooedsimple
-
had tabooedperfect
-
was tabooingprogressive
-
were tabooingprogressive
-
had been tabooingperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing taboo
Human Geography - Middle School
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This Week in Words: January 13 - 19, 2018
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Human Geography - High School
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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:
Since bunting has practically become a taboo, however, adept bunters fit comfortably in the Rays’ budget, which ranks 27th among MLB’s 30 franchises.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
Schulz said it’s important to talk to parents about their finances even when such talks can be uncomfortable or even taboo in your family.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026
Moscow has been warned off, by friend and foe alike, not to break the 81-year long taboo on using nuclear weapons in anger.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
Depraved art even allows us “to safely delve into taboo subjects.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
‘Well . . . these two Cherokee hunters were out in the woods, right? Each of them was under a taboo.’
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
Good AI isn’t a respecter of human taboos.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
Along with questioning social and sexual taboos, feminism and acts of aggression, Ono also confronts her own issues with ego from a Buddhist perspective, just as Cage had.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
The show was groundbreaking - it put the stories of LGBTQ+ people during the HIV/Aids epidemic front and centre, tackled social taboos and gave a voice to those who are often marginalised.
From BBC ● May 19, 2026
EU industry chief Stephane Sejourne celebrated the EU nuclear pivot Tuesday saying Brussels dared "to break certain taboos".
From Barron's ● Mar. 10, 2026
But sometimes, individual Cherokee took on temporary taboos - maybe to cleanse their spirit, or because they knew, from listening to the spirit world or whatever, that the taboo was important.
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
Headquarters order clamped down on gasoline waste, tabooed idling motors, pouring gas without funnels, etc.
From Time Magazine Archive
A rigid rule excluding the work of all artists who had not been dead for 20 years tabooed all moderns.
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
No doubt there was a time when the stage was so profligate that the Puritans were justified in tabooing it altogether.
From Chopin and Other Musical Essays by Henry Theophilus Finck
In tabooing the standpoint of sport, wherever possible, from these chapters, occasional reference, where it overlaps the interests of the field-naturalist, is inevitable.
From Birds in the Calendar by Frederick G. (Frederick George) Aflalo
It is not unusual to find, on such occasions, a special clause, in the conveyance, for their protection, and for the perpetual tabooing of the place of sepulture.
From Dealings with the Dead, Volume I (of 2) by A Sexton of the Old School
Social reformers and temperance agitators could not make a greater mistake than by following the example of the Puritans and tabooing all pleasures.
From Chopin and Other Musical Essays by Henry Theophilus Finck
Besides these taboos, which were observed by each tribe separately, all the Zulu tribes united in tabooing the name of the king who reigned over the whole nation.
From The Golden Bough by Sir James George Frazer
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