Word.ws English Dictionary

forbidding

Syllables: for·bid·dingUK/fəˈbɪdɪŋ//fɚˈbɪdɪŋ/

forbidding adjective: appearing to be threatening, unfriendly or potentially unpleasant. Also the present participle and gerund of forbid.

Adjective

forbidding (comparative more forbidding, superlative most forbidding)

  1. Appearing to be threatening, unfriendly or potentially unpleasant.
    • What cause, cry’d he, can justify our flight,
      To tempt the dangers of forbidding night?1726, Homer, “Book XV”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume IV, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, page 14, lines 57-58
    • […] he was discovered to be proud, to be above his company, and above being pleased; and not all his large estate in Derbyshire could then save him from having a most forbidding, disagreeable countenance, and being unworthy to be compared with his friend.1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter 3, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC

Noun

forbidding (plural forbiddings)

  1. The act by which something is forbidden; a prohibition.
    • But all these poor forbiddings could not stay him;1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC
    • All law was composed of hindrances and obstacles and forbiddings, and therefore he was entirely opposed to Law.1920, St. John G. Ervine, The Foolish Lovers, London: W. Collins & Sons, Chapter 3, VIII, p. 228

Also used as

forbidding is also the present participle and gerund of forbid.

Examples of forbidding in a sentence

  • Maryland law protects individual civil liberties by forbidding wiretapping without the consent of the tappee.
  • The D-Notice forbidding all reference to these events was there ahead of him.
  • I mean, of course, the world-famous, forbidding peak of U.S. income-tax prose.

All 19 example sentences with forbidding

Synonyms of forbidding

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of forbidding

Forms of forbidding

Adjective
comparativemore forbidding
superlativemost forbidding
Noun
pluralforbiddings

Origin of forbidding

By surface analysis, forbid + -ing.

Words formed from forbidding

Words that rhyme with forbidding

Questions about forbidding

What does forbidding mean?
Forbidding means appearing to be threatening, unfriendly or potentially unpleasant.
What part of speech is forbidding?
Forbidding can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce forbidding?
Forbidding is pronounced /fɚˈbɪdɪŋ/ (US).

Words near forbidding in the dictionary

  1. forbiddenness
  2. forbidder
  3. forbidders
  4. forbiddest
  5. forbiddeth
  6. forbidding
  7. forbiddingly
  8. forbiddingness
  9. forbiddings
  10. forbids
  11. forbite

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: forbidding (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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