forbid
For the verb: "to forbid"
| Simple Past: | forbade |
| Past Participle: | forbidden |
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
forbid/fəˈbɪd/
▶verb (forbids, forbidding; past forbade /-ˈbad, -ˈbeɪd/ or forbad; past part. forbidden)
- 1 refuse to allow.
■ order not to do.
- 2 make impossible; prevent: the cliffs forbid any easy turning movement.
- 3 (as adj. forbidden) Physics (of a quantum transition) contrary to a selection rule.
– phrases
the forbidden degrees the number of steps of descent from the same ancestor that bar two related people from marrying.
forbidden fruit a thing that is desired all the more because it is not allowed. [with biblical allusion to Gen. 2:17.]
God (or Heaven) forbid expressing a fervent wish that something does not happen.
the forbidden degrees the number of steps of descent from the same ancestor that bar two related people from marrying.
forbidden fruit a thing that is desired all the more because it is not allowed. [with biblical allusion to Gen. 2:17.]
God (or Heaven) forbid expressing a fervent wish that something does not happen.
'forbid' also found in these Oxford entries:
