prohibition

See also: Prohibition

English

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman and Old French prohibicion, from Latin prohibitiō. By surface analysis, prohibit +‎ -ion.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌpɹəʊ(h)ɪˈbɪʃən/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌpɹoʊ(h)ɪˈbɪʃən/
• Rhymes: -ɪʃən
• Hyphenation: pro‧hi‧bi‧tion

• Audio (US):

  (file)

(Signs exhibited at various churches)

Noun

prohibition (countable and uncountable, plural prohibitions)

1. An act of prohibiting, forbidding, disallowing, or proscribing something.
   • 2021 December 20, Oren Liebermann and Barbara Starr, “Pentagon defines prohibited behavior in effort to tackle extremism”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     But the prohibition on active advocacy and participation left a wide margin of allowable activity and was open to interpretation.

   • 2025 January 30, Tierney Sneed, “Federal law banning handgun sales 18- to 20-year-olds is unconstitutional, appeals court rules”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     Appeals courts, including the 5th Circuit, have in the past upheld the federal ban in question. But more recently, some courts have shown hostility towards gun prohibitions aimed at 18- to 20-year-olds.

2. A law prohibiting the manufacture or sale of alcohol.
   • 1954, Alben W. Barkley, That Reminds Me‎^[3], Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 42:

     First, some persons might consider my advocacy of prohibition rather odd for a congressman coming from the state which produces the finest bourbon whiskey in the world. While this is true, it is also true that prior to the Eighteenth Amendment a large majority of the counties of Kentucky had voted against the sale of liquor under what was known as the county unit plan. Since repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment a substantial majority of Kentucky counties have voted under local option to outlaw liquor. My stand on the question, first in voting for the submission of the Eighteenth Amendment, and later for an amendment to appeal it, was a matter of principle and not of expediency.

3. A period of time when specific socially disapproved consumables are considered controlled substances.

Synonyms

• forbode

Antonyms

• permission

Derived terms

• writ of prohibition

Related terms

• prohibit
• prohibitionary

Translations

act of prohibiting

• Albanian: ndalim (sq) m
• Arabic: حَظْر m (ḥaẓr), مَنْع (ar) m (manʕ)
• Armenian: արգելք (hy) (argelkʻ)
• Azerbaijani: yasaq, qadağan (az)
• Belarusian: забаро́на f (zabaróna)
• Bulgarian: забра́на (bg) f (zabrána), запреще́ние (bg) n (zaprešténie)
• Catalan: prohibició (ca) f, interdicció (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 禁止 (zh) (jìnzhǐ)

• Danish: forbud n
• Dutch: verbod (nl) n
• Estonian: keeld
• Finnish: kielto (fi)
• French: prohibition (fr) f, interdiction (fr) f
• Georgian: აკრძალვა (aḳrʒalva)
• Greek: απαγόρευση (el) f (apagórefsi)
• Hindi: निषेध (hi) m (niṣedh), मनाही (hi) f (manāhī)
• Hungarian: tiltás (hu), megtiltás (hu), tilalom (hu)
• Irish: crosadh m
• Italian: proibizione (it) f
• Japanese: (act of prohibiting) 禁止 (ja) (きんし, kinshi); (legal action) 差し止め (ja) (さしとめ, sashitome)
• Kazakh: тыйым (tyiym)
• Khmer: បំរាម (bɑmraam)
• Korean: 금지(禁止) (ko) (geumji)
• Kyrgyz: тыюу (ky) (tıyuu)
• Latin: vetitum n, interdictum n
• Latvian: liegums m, aizliegums m
• Lithuanian: draudimas (lt) m, uždraudimas m
• Macedonian: забрана f (zabrana)
• Malay: larangan (ms)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: forbud (no) n

• Oromo: dhowwaa
• Persian: منع (fa) (man')
• Plautdietsch: Baun m
• Portuguese: proibição (pt) f
• Romanian: interdicție (ro) f
• Russian: запре́т (ru) m (zaprét), запреще́ние (ru) n (zapreščénije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: за̑брана f

  Roman: zȃbrana (sh) f

• Slovene: prepoved (sl) f
• Spanish: prohibición (es) f
• Swedish: förbud (sv) n
• Tajik: манъ (tg) (manʾ)
• Thai: การห้าม (th) (gaan-hâam), ข้อห้าม (kɔ̂ɔ-hâam)
• Turkish: yasak (tr)
• Ukrainian: заборо́на f (zaboróna)
• Uzbek: taqiq (uz), man (uz)
• Vietnamese: sự cấm (vi), cấm chỉ (vi)
• White Hmong: caiv
• Zazaki: men m, tomet m

law that prohibits something

• Albanian: ndalim (sq) m
• Arabic: حَظْر m (ḥaẓr)
• Belarusian: забаро́на f (zabaróna)
• Bulgarian: забра́на (bg) f (zabrána), запреще́ние (bg) n (zaprešténie)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 禁令 (zh) (jìnlìng), 禁止 (zh) (jìnzhǐ)

• Czech: zákaz (cs) m, prohibice (cs) f
• Danish: forbud n
• Dutch: verbod (nl) n
• Finnish: kieltolaki (fi)
• French: interdiction (fr) f, prohibition (fr) f
• German: Verbot (de) n
• Greek: ποτοαπαγόρευση (el) f (potoapagórefsi)
• Hungarian: szesztilalom (hu) (literally “alcohol prohibition”), alkoholtilalom (hu) (literally “alcohol prohibition”), tilalom (hu)
• Icelandic: bannár
• Japanese: 禁止 (ja) (きんし, kinshi), 禁止法 (きんしほう, kinshihō); (obsolete) 禁制 (ja) (きんせい, kinsei)
• Korean: 금지(禁止) (ko) (geumji)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: قەدەغە (qedeẍe)

• Latin: interdictum n, prohibitio f
• Maori: poropeihana
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: forbud (no) n, (of alcohol) alkoholforbud n

• Polish: zakaz (pl) m
• Portuguese: proibição (pt) f
• Russian: запре́т (ru) m (zaprét)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: за̑брана f

  Roman: zȃbrana (sh) f

• Slovak: zákaz m
• Slovene: prepoved (sl) f
• Spanish: prohibición (es) f
• Swedish: förbud (sv) n
• Ukrainian: заборо́на f (zaboróna)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} prohibitie (nl) f
• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} malpermeso
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} قەدەغە (qedeẍe)

French

Etymology

First attested in Old French, borrowed from Latin prohibitiōnem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʁɔ.i.bi.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

prohibition f (plural prohibitions)

1. prohibition
   1. (specifically) prohibition of alcohol

Related terms

• prohiber

Further reading

• “prohibition”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.