How to use taboo in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, adjective, verb

Taboo means an inhibition or ban that results from social custom or emotional aversion. Example: “Incest is a taboo subject in most soap operas.”

Examples of taboo by meaning

nounAn inhibition or ban that results from social custom or emotional aversion.

It is true indeed that a taboo - in order to be a proper taboo - must not rest in the general mind on argument or reason.1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., published 1921, page 194
So among the Alfoors of the island of Buru it is taboo to mention the names of parents and parents-in-law, or even to speak of common objects by words which resemble these names in sound.1922, James Frazer, The Golden Bough
Genesis, for example, is about incest taboos; all the rest is noise and mystification.1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light:Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, page 12

adjectiveExcluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention.

Incest is a taboo subject in most soap operas.
Sweets and fats are strictly taboo in my home.

verbTo ban or prohibit.

They lunched, but if the subject of Carrados had been tabooed the meal would have been a silent one.1914, Ernest Bramah, Max Carrados

More sentences with taboo

She was forbidden fruit because she was his teacher. This taboo made him want a relationship with her even more.From the entry forbidden fruit
Blasphemy is taboo as it may invoke divine wrath.From the entry invoke
Some cultures have a taboo against uttering necronyms.From the entry necronym
It’s a dark or morbid humour, that makes light of a subject matter that is generally taboo.2023, Elaine Feeney, How to Build a Boat, Vintage (2024), pages 80-81. From the entry black humour
I mean, you're breaking two taboos there—you're dating women, and you've gone white.2022 January 4, Radhika Sanghani, 30 Things I Love About Myself, Penguin, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC. From the entry go
ABDLism is pretty taboo, many people will cringe or look down upon this sort of stuff.2020 April 23, shytweenie, “How much do you think the community is growing by?”, in ADISC.org. From the entry TBDL
People often say pooping is taboo, but lately it seems more like a cultural fetish.2018 November 30, Alex Blasdel, “Bowel movement: the push to change the way you poo”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London…. From the entry whatsapp
My tastes are from mild to fetish to femdom to taboo.2012, Taboo Phone Sex Sluts, “Sexy tranny Lesley”, in alt.sex.telephone.ads (Usenet). From the entry ladystick
The operation of taboos – or kapu – kept society ordered, quite cruelly on occasion.2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society, published 2011, page 43. From the entry kapu
The ancient taboo, which Plato wishes to reinstate, is an important element.2002, Gloria Ferrari, Figures of Speech: Men and Maidens in Ancient Greece, University of Chicago Press, sourced from…. From the entry reinstate
"It's taboo," said Joseph, grinning like the cat that ate the canary.2001 April 25, “Joseph hints at hurt hand”, in cbcsports.ca, Canada, retrieved 09 Aug 2008. From the entry cat that ate the canary
This, of course, was taboo: any man hit by a woman's undercloth was supposed to become impotent.2000, Nico Kofi Adiku, Azasu: Son of the Hunter, page 46. From the entry undercloth
The fact that nudity was a cultural taboo meant that it could provide a vehicle for dissent.1991, Timothy Miller, The hippies and American values, University of Tennessee Press, →ISBN, page 61. From the entry nude-in
Tom of the fluid pelvis, undulating about the living room in defiance of Michael's taboo on sensuality.1983 December 31, Kenneth Hale-Wehmann, “The Business of Sex and Affection”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 24, page 8. From the entry fluid
He could, moreover, no longer be tempted to the Grubber, for all chocolate and sweets were taboo.1925, The Oxford Outlook, numbers 34-43, page 158. From the entry grubber
It’s taboo to say that you’re free, even if you have nothing to do, because that’s like asking to get fired.2024 December 8, Nadine Lee, quoting Jade, in-house counsel, “Singaporeans Confess How They’re Wayang-ing the December Blues Away At…. From the entry wayang
Still, there is a certain taboo around manscaping.2024 August 29, Zoe Williams, “‘They handled me like a carcass!’: why are so many men now ‘manscaping’?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN. From the entry manscaping
“The stigma and taboos around talking about death have been way reduced,” Cake’s co-founder Suelin Chen, 38, said.2020 July 16, Jennifer Miller, “Boom Time for Death Planning”, in The New York Times. From the entry deathfluencer
The word "filler" is taboo in the excipient world.2014 April, Ken Seufert, “The New Dawn of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing: Innovative Solutions for Unprecedented Challenges”, in American…. From the entry filler
And Chris and Cathy’s taboo love, which blossomed during their long confinement, gets even more intense and Lannisterian.2014 January 11, Hillary Busis, “A 'Flowers in the Attic' sequel?! Here's why it's gonna be nuts”, in Entertainment Weekly. From the entry Lannisterian
In a seeming paradox, however, broken taboos may not always carry the heavy repercussions of violations of a social more.2008, Barak A. Salmoni, Paula Holmes-Eber, “[Dimension Five – Belief Systems] Some Features of Belief Systems”, in Operational Culture for…. From the entry more
Over time, groups that marry out had an advantage over those that did not, so eventually all groups developed incest taboos.2008, James Peoples, Garrick Bailey, Humanity: An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, →ISBN. From the entry marry out
Indeed, so inviolate was the cult of genteel amateurishness, that professional topics, or “shop”, were Draconically tabooed in conversation off parade.1942, Esmé Wingfield-Stratford, “The Soldier”, in Churchill: The Making of a Hero, London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, →OCLC, section 1, page 35. From the entry draconically
It should almost be a lighting axiom therefore, that brilliant underhead light sources are taboo for esthetic purposes.1931, Lighting - Volumes 20-21, page 14. From the entry underhead
Chemistry was taboo, by common consent — no "shop" allowed.1917, South African Chemical Institute, Proceedings, page 28. From the entry shop
Understanding how divergent codes of masculinity informed ideas about officer-like conduct and gentlemanliness therefore reveals the values, assumptions, and taboos in military culture.2022, Matthew Barrett, “Introduction”, in Scandalous Conduct: Canadian Officer Courts Martial, 1914–45, University of British Columbia…. From the entry officer-like
But the ethos of the sector is about positive social change for the better, and breaking taboos of all kinds is part of this.2019, Jen Wight, Rattled: Overcoming Postpartum Psychosis. From the entry knobend
There may be no taboo greater in Germany than to republish Adolf Hitler's manifesto, "Mein Kampf." But historians in Munich are breaking it.2016 January 1, Ben Brumfield, “Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' republished in Germany, on sale in bookstores”, in CNN, archived from the original…. From the entry republish
The tabooed name of this island is Blåkulla, Blue Hill (or Rock), a recurring name of the home of the witches in the North.2015 October 31, Heidrun Stebergløkken, Ragnhild Berge, Eva Lindgaard, Ritual Landscapes and Borders within Rock Art Research: Papers in…. From the entry noa
The character is also denied an affirming liplock with her female love interest—a former taboo that was long ago shattered by L.A.1997 April 14, Bruce Handy, “Roll Over, Ward Cleaver”, in Time. From the entry liplock
And Miriam Hopkins taboos fried foods.1932 September 2, Elsie Pierce, “Be Beautiful”, in The Charlotte News, Charlotte, N. C., page 11. From the entry oversit
Addressing a number of previously taboo topics, this synod could result in several liberalizing reforms, though there is no guarantee that it will produce anything at all.2023 October 2, Jason Horowitz, Elisabetta Povoledo, “What Is a Synod in the Catholic Church? And Why Does This One Matter?”, in The New…. From the entry synod
With the growth of Kinktok came backlash which instead of focusing on the community as a whole, focused on specific creators or fetishes that they deemed unacceptable and taboo.2022, Nic Cloyd, "Anti-Pornography Feminism, KinkTok, and Consent: What We Can Learn from The Sex Wars and Leather/Sadomasochistic…. From the entry KinkTok
There were associated spiritual, even paranormal, issues—taboo lines of inquiry shunned by modern science—that were too integrally bound up in the whole enigma for dismissal or avoidance.2016, Frank Joseph, Our Dolphin Ancestors: Keepers of Lost Knowledge and Healing Wisdom. From the entry delphinology

Meaning of taboo

noun An inhibition or ban that results from social custom or emotional aversion.
noun Something which may not be used, approached or mentioned because it is sacred.
adjective Excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention.

Full definition of taboo

Questions about taboo in a sentence

How do you use taboo in a sentence?: Taboo is used as a noun, adjective and verb. For example: “Incest is a taboo subject in most soap operas.”
What is a short sentence with taboo?: “And Miriam Hopkins taboos fried foods.”
What does taboo mean?: Taboo means an inhibition or ban that results from social custom or emotional aversion.

Adapted from Wiktionary: taboo (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use taboo in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/taboo. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.