Synonyms for forbid
Definitions
- v. 1
To disallow; to proscribe.
Smoking in the restaurant is forbidden.
- v. 2
To deny, exclude from, or warn off, by express command.
Related words
- Word family
- forbiddance forbidding
- Phrases
- heaven forbid
Forms
- Past participle
- forbidden
e.g. forbidden → prohibited, disallowed, proscribed, banned…
Choose the right word
To forbid is Anglo-Saxon, and is more familiar; to prohibit is Latin, and is more formal or official.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Example sentences
- ban Saudi Arabia will remove the ban on women driving.
- prohibit Shame can limit what the law does not prohibit.
- disallow Decision to disallow Medicaid for second cochlea implant withdrawn.
- prevent Eating healthfully can help prevent heart disease.
- preclude You can be both kind and firm. One does not preclude the other.
By length
- 3 letters
- ban1, nix1
- 4 letters
- veto2
- 5 letters
- taboo2, debar
- 6 letters
- hinder2, impede2
- 7 letters
- prevent2, inhibit3
- 8 letters
- prohibit3, restrain2, preclude2, disallow3, redlight
- 9 letters
- frustrate2, forestall2, foreclose2, interdict3, proscribe2
- 11 letters
- countermand
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (veto2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- interdire