Standard Lemma guide

forbidding

adj · noun · verb · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /fɚˈbɪdɪŋ/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Received-Pronunciation: /fəˈbɪdɪŋ/
  • rhymes with -ɪdɪŋ
  • CMU ARPABET: F ER0 B IH1 D IH0 NG Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: F AO0 B IH1 D IH0 NG Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Appearing to be threatening, unfriendly or potentially unpleasant.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: bleak, frosty, grim, uninviting, cheerless, comfortless, dark, morose, depressing, desolate, dire, disconsolate, dismal, doleful, dolesome, drear, drearisome, dreary, dreich, forlorn, gayless, gray, gloomsome, gloomy, joyless, lack-laughter, lugubrious, melancholy, mirthless, miserable, no joke, saturnine, solemn, somber, sombre, spiritless, sullen, sunless, uncheerful, uncheery, unhappy, unmerry, wintry, woeful, brutal, callous, cold, cold-eyed, cruel, dour, flint-hearted, forbidding, hard, hard-boiled, hardened, hardhearted, heartless, harsh, humorless, icy, iron-hearted, insensate, insensitive, marble-hearted, rigorous, rockhearted, severe, stern, stonehearted, stony, stonyhearted, strict, tough, unsympathetic, unmoved

Antonyms: approachable, inviting, welcoming

2

noun

Meaning 2

The act by which something is forbidden; a prohibition.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 1920, St. John G. Ervine, The Foolish Lovers, London: W. Collins & Sons, Chapter 3, VIII, p. 228, All law was composed of hindrances and obstacles and forbiddings, and therefore he was entirely opposed to Law.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

present participle and gerund of forbid

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: form-of, gerund, participle, present

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adjective satellite

Meaning 4

threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a baleful look
  • forbidding thunderclouds
  • his tone became menacing
  • ominous rumblings of discontent
  • sinister storm clouds
  • a sinister smile
  • his threatening behavior
  • ugly black clouds
  • the situation became ugly

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: baleful, menacing, minacious, minatory, ominous, sinister, threatening

Antonyms: none provided

5

adjective satellite

Meaning 5

harshly uninviting or formidable in manner or appearance- J.M.Barrie

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a dour, self-sacrificing life
  • a forbidding scowl
  • a grim man loving duty more than humanity
  • undoubtedly the grimmest part of him was his iron claw

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: dour, grim

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

an official prohibition or edict against something

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ban, banning, forbiddance

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: prohibition

Narrower terms: test ban

History

Etymology

By surface analysis, forbid + -ing.

Across languages

Translations

12 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: luontaantyöntävä — highly unpleasant or disagreeable
  • German: unwirtlich — highly unpleasant or disagreeable
  • German: abweisend — highly unpleasant or disagreeable
  • German: zurückweisend — highly unpleasant or disagreeable
  • German: äußerst unfreundlich — highly unpleasant or disagreeable
  • German: abstoßend — highly unpleasant or disagreeable
  • German: widerwärtig — highly unpleasant or disagreeable
  • Irish: doicheallach — highly unpleasant or disagreeable
  • Polish: nieprzyjazny — highly unpleasant or disagreeable
  • Finnish: pelottava — threatening or menacing
  • Finnish: uhkaava — threatening or menacing
  • German: bedrohlich — threatening or menacing