PROHIBITION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does prohibition mean? 

• PROHIBITION (noun)
  The noun PROHIBITION has 5 senses:

1. a law forbidding the sale of alcoholic beverages

2. a decree that prohibits something

3. the period from 1920 to 1933 when the sale of alcoholic beverages was prohibited in the United States by a constitutional amendment

4. refusal to approve or assent to

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

  Familiarity information: PROHIBITION used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PROHIBITION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A law forbidding the sale of alcoholic beverages

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Context example:

in 1920 the 18th amendment to the Constitution established prohibition in the US

Hypernyms ("prohibition" is a kind of...):

law (legal document setting forth rules governing a particular kind of activity)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Derivation:

prohibitionist (a reformer who opposes the use of intoxicating beverages)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A decree that prohibits something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

ban; prohibition; proscription

Hypernyms ("prohibition" is a kind of...):

decree; edict; fiat; order; rescript (a legally binding command or decision entered on the court record (as if issued by a court or judge))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "prohibition"):

banning-order (an order that bans something)

cease and desist order; enjoining; enjoinment; injunction ((law) a judicial remedy issued in order to prohibit a party from doing or continuing to do a certain activity)

interdict; interdiction (a court order prohibiting a party from doing a certain activity)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The period from 1920 to 1933 when the sale of alcoholic beverages was prohibited in the United States by a constitutional amendment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Synonyms:

prohibition; prohibition era

Hypernyms ("prohibition" is a kind of...):

period; period of time; time period (an amount of time)

Derivation:

prohibitionist (a reformer who opposes the use of intoxicating beverages)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Refusal to approve or assent to

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("prohibition" is a kind of...):

refusal (the act of refusing)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "prohibition"):

interdiction (authoritative prohibition)

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

Sense 5

Meaning:

The action of prohibiting or inhibiting or forbidding (or an instance thereof)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

forbiddance; inhibition; prohibition

Context example:

he ignored his parents' forbiddance

Hypernyms ("prohibition" is a kind of...):

action (something done (usually as opposed to something said))

Derivation:

prohibit (command against)

 Context examples 

Let me say to that public, which has shown some interest in those glimpses which I have occasionally given them of the thoughts and actions of a very remarkable man, that they are not to blame me if I have not shared my knowledge with them, for I should have considered it my first duty to do so, had I not been barred by a positive prohibition from his own lips, which was only withdrawn upon the third of last month.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A great curiosity came on the trustee, to disregard the prohibition and dive at once to the bottom of these mysteries; but professional honour and faith to his dead friend were stringent obligations; and the packet slept in the inmost corner of his private safe.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

His cold and proud nature was always averse, however, from anything in the shape of public applause, and he bound me in the most stringent terms to say no further word of himself, his methods, or his successes—a prohibition which, as I have explained, has only now been removed.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)