- 1to order someone not to do something; to order that something must not be done forbid somebody (from doing something) He forbade them from mentioning the subject again. forbid something Her father forbade the marriage. forbid somebody to do something You are all forbidden to leave. forbid somebody something My doctor has forbidden me sugar. forbid (somebody) doing something She knew her mother would forbid her going. opposite allow, permit
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- 2forbid something forbid somebody to do something (formal) to make it difficult or impossible to do something synonym prohibit Lack of space forbids further treatment of the topic here. Idioms
forbid
verbNAmE//fərˈbɪd//
Verb Forms present simple I / you / we / they forbid he / she / it forbids
past simple forbade
,
past participle forbidden -ing form forbidding
used to say that you hope that something will not happen “Maybe you'll end up as a lawyer, like me.” “God forbid!” Some people find this use offensive.
Check pronunciation: forbid