forbid
pronunciation
How to pronounce forbid in British English:
UK [fəˈbɪd]
How to pronounce forbid in American English:
US [fərˈbɪd]
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- Verb:
- command against
- keep from happening or arising; have the effect of preventing
Word Origin
- forbid
- forbid: [OE] Forbid is a compound verb that appears to have been coined in prehistoric Germanic times from the prefix *fer-, denoting negation or exclusion (as in forget) and *bithjan, source of English bid – hence, ‘command not to do something’. It produced German verbieten and Dutch verbieden ‘forbid’ as well as English forbid.=> bid
- forbid (v.)
- Old English forbeodan "forbid, prohibit" (past tense forbead, plural forbudon, past participle forboden), from for- "against" + beodan "to command" (see bid (v.)). Common Germanic compound (compare Old Frisian forbiada , Dutch verbieden, Old High German farbiotan, German verbieten, Old Norse fyrirbjoða, Swedish förbjuda, Gothic faurbiudan "to forbid"). In Middle English the past tense was forbad, the plural forbade, the past participle forbode. Related: Forbade; forbidden. Expression God forbid is recorded by early 13c. Forbidden fruit is from Gen. ii:17.
Example
- 1. Many modern contracts expressly forbid the consumption of alcohol .
- 2. But forbid me from doing something ?
- 3. Waiting for a telephone call is thereby woven out of tiny unavowable interdictions to infinity : I forbid myself to leave the room to go to the toilet even to telephone ( to keep the line from being busy ) .
- 4. I tried to forbid throwing things .
- 5. No laws forbid payment to volunteers .