- forbid
- forbid, prohibit, enjoin, interdict, inhibit, ban are comparable when meaning to debar a person from using, doing, or entering or to order something not be used, done, or entered.Forbid is the more direct and familiar, prohibit, the more formal or official; they do not widely differ in their essential implications, for they both imply the exercise of authority or the existence of conditions which prevent with similar imperativeness. However, forbid carries so strong a connotation of expected obedience that it is preferred when the order is that of one in authority (as a parent, a master, an employer, or a physician){
forbid a child to leave the house
}{smoking is forbidden on these premises
}{suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not— Mk 10:14
}{the whole attraction of such knowledge consists in the fact that it is forbidden— Russell
}When circumstances absolutely debar, forbid is also preferred{his health forbade the use of tobacco
}Prohibit has been used for so long in reference to laws, statutes, and regulations that it tends to connote a less despotic exercise of authority and to suggest restraints imposed for the good of all or for the sake of orderly procedure{prohibit the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors
}{the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States— U. S. Constitution
}{the act was wrong in the sense that it was prohibited by law— Cardozo
}Enjoin (see also COMMAND) is a legal term implying a judicial order forbidding a particular action{by the decision of the Court the defendant should be enjoined from publishing news obtained from the Associated Press for — [a certain number of] hours after publication by the plaintiff— Justice Holmes
}Interdict implies prohibition by authority, usually civil or ecclesiastical authority, typically for a given time and for a salutary purpose (as the maintenance of neutrality or the prevention of the spread of disease) or as an exemplary punishment{interdict trade with belligerents
}{interdict the administration of the sacraments in a rebellious diocese
}{Sunday . . . until two o'clock, was a solemn interval, during which all the usual books and plays were interdicted— Mary Austin
}Inhibit implies the imposition of restraints or restrictions that amount to prohibitions, not only by authority but also by the exigencies of the time or situation{a clause was . . . inserted which inhibited the Bank from advancing money to the Crown without authority from Parliament— Macaulay
}{the peril that besets a highly gifted poetic nature, when at bad moments thought inhibits imagination— Lowes
}In psychological use inhibit suggests the restraints imposed by inner psychological impediments and conflicts or by the interaction of human will with cultural and social factors of the environment which cause one to suppress certain thoughts or desires before they can find full expression{inhibited from bold speculation by his personal loyalties and interests— Parrington
}{he is inhibited, he inhibits himself, even from seeking on his own account that vital experience which is the stuff of the creative life— Brooks
}Ban carries an implication of legal or social pressure as the source of prohibition and with it a strong connotation of condemnation or disapproval{ban all obscene magazines
}{ban profane language
}{Categories of persons banned from Federal employment— Ginzburg
}{more and more landlords were banning tenants with children— Wecter
}Antonyms: permit: bid
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
