• IPA: /fə(ɹ)ˈbɪd/

forbid (forbids, present participle forbidding; past forbid, past participle forbidden)

1. (transitive) To disallow; to proscribe.

   Smoking in the restaurant is forbidden.

   • 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

     […] the Mole recollected that animal-etiquette forbade any sort of comment on the sudden disappearance of one's friends at any moment, for any reason or no reason whatever.

2. (ditransitive) To deny, exclude from, or warn off, by express command.
   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, “The Merry VViues of VVindsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act IV, scene ii]:

     Have I not forbid her my house?

3. (transitive) To oppose, hinder, or prevent, as if by an effectual command.

   An impassable river forbids the approach of the army.

   • a blaze of glory that forbids the sight

4. (transitive, obsolete) To accurse; to blast.
   • c. 1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene iii]:

     He shall live a man forbid.

5. (transitive, obsolete) To defy; to challenge.

   What part of "no" do you forbid to understand?

• prohibit
• disallow
• ban
• veto
• See also Thesaurus:prohibit

• French: interdire, nier, dénier
• German: verbieten, untersagen, verweigern, vorenthalten, ablehnen
• Italian: proibire, vietare, negare, smentire
• Portuguese: proibir, negar
• Russian: запреща́ть
• Spanish: prohibir, vedar, vetar, negar