What does forbid mean?
To forbid is to declare that something must not be done, whether by personal authority, parental instruction, or formal rule. The verb conveys a clear exercise of power: a parent may forbid a child from attending a party, a government may forbid an activity by statute, and an employer may forbid certain conduct in the workplace. It sits alongside close relatives such as prohibit, ban, and bar, though forbid tends to sound more direct and personal, while prohibit suggests the weight of law or regulation. The word takes an irregular past tense, 'forbade', and its participle 'forbidden' lives on in phrases like 'forbidden fruit' and 'forbidden city'. A fixed expression, 'God forbid', remains common as a way of voicing the fervent wish that something awful never occur. Rooted in Old English, forbid has kept its essential meaning for over a thousand years, making it one of the durable workhorses of everyday authority.
verbTo forbid is to command or order that something not be done, refusing to allow it either by authority or by rule.
- To order someone not to do something, exercising authority to prevent it.
- (Formal/legal contexts) To refuse to allow something by rule, statute, or regulation.
"The regulations strictly forbid smoking inside the building."
"Her parents forbade her to stay out past midnight."
"The treaty expressly forbids the testing of nuclear weapons."
In older English, saying someone was 'forbidden' could mean they were literally bewitched or protected by a charm — the word's past reaches further back than any rulebook.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of forbid
Forbid descends directly from the Old English verb 'forbeodan', formed from the prefix 'for-' combined with 'beodan', meaning to command or proclaim. This Germanic root also gave rise to the related English verb 'bid', so forbid and bid are ancient siblings within the same linguistic family. The word carried essentially the same meaning through Middle English into the modern era, and its negative participle 'forbidden' became a standard way of marking things off-limits. Its Germanic cousins on the continent, such as comparable compounds in Old High German and Gothic, reflect the same pattern of prefix plus commanding verb.
Related word forms
How forbid is actually used
Forbid carries an authoritative, often parental or institutional tone; it is more personal than 'prohibit', which tends to appear in legal or regulatory language. Its principal forms are the irregular past tense 'forbade' (also 'forbad') and the participle 'forbidden'. The phrase 'God forbid' survives as a fixed expression expressing strong hope that something will never happen.
Easily confused with forbid
Forbid is a general word for commanding someone not to do something, while prohibit usually refers to preventing something by formal law, rule, or regulation.