FORBID (forbad, forbade, forbidden, forbidding)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: forbad    , forbade    , forbidden    , forbidding   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does forbid mean? 

• FORBID (verb)
  The verb FORBID has 2 senses:

1. command against

2. keep from happening or arising; make impossible

  Familiarity information: FORBID used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FORBID (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they forbid    ... he / she / it forbids   
Past simple: forbad    / forbade   
Past participle: forbid    / forbidden   
-ing form: forbidding   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Command against

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

disallow; forbid; interdict; nix; prohibit; proscribe; veto

Context example:

Dad nixed our plans

Hypernyms (to "forbid" is one way to...):

command; require (make someone do something)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "forbid"):

ban (prohibit especially by legal means or social pressure)

bar; debar; exclude (prevent from entering; keep out)

enjoin (issue an injunction)

criminalise; criminalize; illegalise; illegalize; outlaw (declare illegal; outlaw)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody to INFINITIVE

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue forbid the movie

Antonym:

permit (consent to, give permission)

Derivation:

forbiddance (the action of prohibiting or inhibiting or forbidding (or an instance thereof))

forbiddance; forbidding (an official prohibition or edict against something)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Keep from happening or arising; make impossible

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

forbid; foreclose; forestall; preclude; prevent

Context example:

Your role in the projects precludes your involvement in the competitive project

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "forbid"):

inhibit (prohibit, forbid, or prevent from doing something)

make unnecessary; save (make unnecessary an expenditure or effort)

avert; avoid; debar; deflect; fend off; forefend; forfend; head off; obviate; stave off; ward off (prevent the occurrence of; prevent from happening)

block; blockade; embarrass; hinder; obstruct; stymie; stymy (hinder or prevent the progress or accomplishment of)

baffle; bilk; cross; foil; frustrate; queer; scotch; spoil; thwart (hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of)

block; halt; kibosh; stop (stop from happening or developing)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

 Context examples 

Heaven forbid that I should grudge my native country any portion of the wealth that may be accumulated by our descendants!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

How dare you cast eyes on him when I had forbidden it? Back, I tell you all! This man belongs to me!

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I forbid him to do it, but he doesn't mind me as he ought.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

But White Fang, uncompanionable, solitary, morose, scarcely looking to right or left, redoubtable, forbidding of aspect, remote and alien, was accepted as an equal by his puzzled elders.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

“No,” said the boy, “I will not do that; the king has forbidden it,” and ran away.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Some of the people threw up stones, hoping to drive the monkey down; but this was strictly forbidden, or else, very probably, my brains had been dashed out.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Sale is forbidden in the United States by Federal statute.

(Diacetylmorphine, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

You are forbidden to write—to hold a pen; yet one word from you, dear Victor, is necessary to calm our apprehensions.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

He had neither money nor position—nothing but his beauty and strength and energy—so my father forbade the match.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And now you feed me, when then you let me starve, forbade me your house, and damned me because I wouldn't get a job.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)