forbid
Americanverb (used with object)
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forbids,
present (3rd person singular)
-
forbade,
past participle, past
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forbid,
past participle, past
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forbad,
past (Archaic)
-
forbidden,
past participle
-
forbidding
present participle
-
to command (a person) not to do something, have something, etc., or not to enter some place.
She forbade him entry to the house.
- Synonyms:
- interdict
-
to prohibit (something); make a rule or law against.
to forbid the use of lipstick; to forbid smoking.
- Synonyms:
- interdict
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to hinder or prevent; make impossible.
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to exclude; bar.
Burlesque is forbidden in many cities.
verb
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to prohibit (a person) in a forceful or authoritative manner (from doing something or having something)
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to make impossible; hinder
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to shut out or exclude
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may it not happen
Synonym Usage
Forbid, inhibit, prohibit, taboo indicate a command to refrain from some action. Forbid, a common and familiar word, usually denotes a direct or personal command of this sort: I forbid you to go. It was useless to forbid children to play in the park. Inhibit implies a checking or hindering of impulses by the mind, sometimes involuntarily: to inhibit one's desires; His responsiveness was inhibited by extreme shyness. Prohibit, a formal or legal word, means usually to forbid by official edict, enactment, or the like: to prohibit the sale of liquor. Taboo, primarily associated with primitive superstition, means to prohibit by common disapproval and by social custom: to taboo a subject in polite conversation.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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forbidsimple
-
forbidssimple
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have forbadeperfect
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have forbidperfect
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have forbiddenperfect
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has forbadeperfect
-
has forbidperfect
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has forbiddenperfect
-
am forbiddingprogressive
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are forbiddingprogressive
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is forbiddingprogressive
-
have been forbiddingperfect progressive
-
has been forbiddingperfect progressive
Past
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forbadsimple
-
forbadesimple
-
forbidsimple
-
had forbadeperfect
-
had forbidperfect
-
had forbiddenperfect
-
was forbiddingprogressive
-
were forbiddingprogressive
-
had been forbiddingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of forbid
First recorded before 1000; Middle English forbeden, Old English forbēodan. See for-, bid 1
Explanation
When you forbid something, you refuse to allow it. You might have heard your parents say things like, "I forbid you to play ball in the house!" or "I forbid you to have any more parties when we're not home!" Forbid comes from the Old English word forbeodan, meaning "forbid, prohibit." Forbid can also mean "prevent" or "keep from happening." The spare tire on your car will forbid you from driving any faster than 40 miles an hour — any faster and the car will shake. You may have heard forbid used in the expression "God forbid . . ." This refers to something you hope will not happen, so much so that you're asking God for a little help.
Vocabulary lists containing forbid
Beowulf vocabulary
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"The Tragedy of Macbeth," Vocabulary from Act 1
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"Names/Nombres" by Julia Alvarez
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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:
If, God forbid, Maddie should disappear — if Grande departed public life, as she’s now planning on — there would be a hole in Deena’s life.
From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2026
You want to believe that there’s really competent, smart people in those jobs, so that, God forbid, if anything happens to you, that’s what you’re gonna encounter.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
The United Nations’s chief wants humanity to forbid killer robots.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
If, heaven forbid, something breaks or gets stolen, it will be your responsibility.
From MarketWatch ● May 28, 2026
“I forbid you to leave this room that wav,” he informed her.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
Some of those strikes could violate international law, which forbids attacking civilian infrastructure.
From Slate ● Jul. 20, 2026
Washington has vehemently opposed Tehran's desire to charge tolls in the strait, which international law generally forbids.
From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026
But he cannot be deported due to a 1971 law that forbids the removal of a small group of Commonwealth citizens who arrived in the UK more than 50 years ago.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
Spain forbids public and commercial buildings from cooling below 80 degrees.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
“I haven’t had sugar in two years. Wilfrido is a total control freak. He forbids his assistants from gaining even one pound. Do you know how much sugar is in tres leches? Do you?”
From "The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora" by Pablo Cartaya
The Meyer decision, for example, overturned a Nebraska law which forbad teaching non-English languages in public and private schools.
From Slate ● Nov. 1, 2022
Hence it seems, as if the Ambassador intended at first to 344 communicate the letter, but that its contents on being decyphered forbad it.
From The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution Volume 7. by Various
His Majesty easily imagin'd that the Queen had been surpriz'd; and being justly angry with Bassompierre, forbad him the Court.
The people were commanded to purify themselves and wash their garments, and Moses forbad any one to approach the mountain.
From The History of Antiquity, Vol. I (of VI) by Max Duncker
William at the same time forbad the English from going to Rome, and prohibited them acknowledging any other pope than him whom he should approve.
From The Power Of The Popes by Pierre Claude Fran?ois Daunou
The reason for the separation between the businesses, Corley added, had to do with a defunct local law that forbade the two establishments existing under one umbrella.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2026
That’s because the rule never forbade criticism of the SEC, but only a defendant’s attempt to deny the allegations or facts in a settlement that it “neither admitted nor denied.”
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 17, 2026
Mr. Ahamed is sure it would have helped, but the spirit of the times resisted it and the law of the land forbade it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
In a video posted Wednesday, Transport Minister Said bin Hamood bin Said Al Maawali said that international conventions signed by Oman forbade taking tolls for passage, but that talks were ongoing with the foreign ministry.
From Barron's ● Apr. 9, 2026
Nivea forbade her to continue frightening her daughter.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
The band said police detained them after the show, and that an investigation led to the band being forbidden from performing in the country.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
Eyes tear up when unrequited love leads to isolation or forbidden love leads to death.
From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2026
He is also forbidden from trying to contact Mountbatten-Windsor directly or indirectly, or approach him or enter Norfolk.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
Proponents say French sugar beet, apple and hazelnut farmers need the insecticides -- forbidden in France since 2018 and 2019, respectively -- to help them compete with their European counterparts.
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
Even the ever-candid Adams recognized that this was the forbidden topic, the one piece of ground declared off-limits by mutual consent.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
If your niece’s mother lives there rent-free, the trustee should be comfortable that doing so benefits your niece and there should be no rules forbidding it.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
The cultural chasm between Europeans and Africans presented obstacles to conversion, and a long legacy of church practice forbidding the enslavement of fellow Christians provided grounds to leave slaves in unbelief.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
The New York Times calling it "cold and forbidding", while the Washington Post described it as a "time warp."
From Barron's ● Jun. 4, 2026
In 1980, justices struck down a law virtually identical to Texas’, forbidding states from placing the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms.
From Slate ● Apr. 23, 2026
But the jungle had been too forbidding, and the girls had stayed close to the beach.
From "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray
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.
