different between forbidding vs forbid

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /f??b?d??/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /f??b?d??/
• Rhymes: -?d??
• Hyphenation: for?bid?ding

Adjective

forbidding (comparative more forbidding, superlative most forbidding)

1. Appearing to be threatening, unfriendly or potentially unpleasant.
   • 1726, Alexander Pope (translator), The Odyssey of Homer, London, 1760, Volume 3, Book 15, lines 57-58, p. 100,^[1]

     What cause, cry’d he, can justify our flight,

     To tempt the dangers of forbidding night?

   • 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, London: T. Egerton, Volume I, Chapter 3,^[2]

     […] 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.

   • 1922, Emily Post, Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics, and at Home, New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1923, Chapter 28, p. 498,^[3]

     The writer of the “blank” letter begins fluently with the date and “Dear Mary,” and then sits and chews his penholder or makes little dots and squares and circles on the blotter—utterly unable to attack the cold, forbidding blankness of that first page.

   • 1988, “If You Can’t Fight City Hall, Here’s a Different Idea: Sell It,” The New York Times, 10 January, 1988,^[4]

     Its forbidding brick and concrete exterior looms over a vast, windswept brick plaza in a style architectural critics, not without admiration, call “The New Brutalism.”

Antonyms

• approachable
• inviting
• welcoming

Translations

Verb

forbidding

1. present participle of forbid

Noun

forbidding (plural forbiddings)

1. The act by which something is forbidden; a prohibition.
   • 1594, William Shakespeare, The Rape of Lucrece,^[5]

     But all these poor forbiddings could not stay him;

   • 1920, St. John G. Ervine, The Foolish Lovers, London: W. Collins & Sons, Chapter 3, VIII, p. 228,^[6]

     All law was composed of hindrances and obstacles and forbiddings, and therefore he was entirely opposed to Law.

English

Etymology

From Middle English forbeden, from Old English forb?odan (“to forbid, prohibit, restrain, refuse, repeal, annul”), from Proto-Germanic *furibeudan?, from *furi + *beudan?. Equivalent to for- (“from, away”) +? bid (“to offer, proclaim”). Cognate with Dutch verbieden (“to forbid”), German verbieten (“to forbid”), Danish forbyde (“to forbid”),Norwegian Bokmål forby (“to forbid”), Swedish förbjuda (“to forbid”), Gothic ???????????????????????????????????????? (faurbiudan). Related to forbode.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /f??b?d/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /f??b?d/
• Rhymes: -?d

Verb

forbid (third-person singular simple present forbids, present participle forbidding, simple past forbid or forbade or forbad, past participle forbidden)

1. (transitive) To disallow; to proscribe.
   • 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

     […] the Mole recollected that animal-etiquette forbade any sort of comment on the sudden disappearance of one's friends at any moment, for any reason or no reason whatever.

2. (ditransitive) To deny, exclude from, or warn off, by express command.
3. (transitive) To oppose, hinder, or prevent, as if by an effectual command.

   • a blaze of glory that forbids the sight

4. (transitive, obsolete) To accurse; to blast.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To defy; to challenge.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of L. Andrews to this entry?)

Usage notes

• Especially when talking about a person, the expression is not allowed to is much more common than the very formal is forbidden to/is forbidden from.
• This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive or the gerund (-ing) when the person is mentioned from whom something is forbidden, and it takes the gerund (-ing) when such a person is not mentioned. See Appendix:English catenative verbs. Examples:
  • The management forbids employees from smoking/to smoke in the office. (Active; those subject to prohibition are identified)
  • Employees are forbidden from smoking/to smoke in the office. (Passive; those subject to prohibition are identified)
  • The management forbids smoking in the office. (Active; those subject to prohibition are not identified)
  • Smoking in the office is forbidden. (Passive; those subject to prohibition are not identified)

Synonyms

• prohibit
• disallow
• ban
• veto
• See also Thesaurus:prohibit

Derived terms

• forbiddance
• forbidding

Translations

References

• forbid in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• forbid in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.