verboten
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of verboten
First recorded in 1910–15; from German: past participle of verbieten “to prohibit, forbid”; see forbid
Explanation
Something verboten is forbidden. It isn't allowed or permitted. If this word looks and sounds odd, that's because it comes straight to English from German. The concept is simple: anything verboten is forbidden to do or say. Lying in court is verboten. Wearing a hat in church is verboten. Many swear words are verboten to say on TV (or at the dinner table). A verboten act could be illegal or just something frowned upon, like a taboo. Different cultures believe different things are verboten.
Vocabulary lists containing verboten
National Spelling Bee '14: Prelims Round 2
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Foreign Words and Phrases Commonly Used in English, List 3
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The Boy Who Dared
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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.
But on Sunday, shop assistants at the organic supermarket erect barriers through the store to guide shoppers to the bakery section and two cooling cabinets, and away from verboten goods.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
The show is adept at detecting a critical mass—those rare moments when verboten civil aspirations suddenly become actionable.
From Slate ● Aug. 5, 2025
So for our purposes, such tax rises are clearly verboten.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2024
But Santa Monica Playhouse co-artistic director Evelyn Rudie says that her theater deems the action verboten.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 4, 2024
The sign verboten is to some natures as a red rag to a bull.
From Why Joan? by Eleanor Mercein Kelly
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.
