forbidding

adjective

for·​bid·​ding fər-ˈbi-diŋ How to pronounce forbidding (audio)
fȯr-
1
: such as to make approach or passage difficult or impossible
forbidding walls
2
: disagreeable, repellent
a forbidding task
3
: grim, menacing
a dark forbidding sky
forbiddingly adverb

Examples of forbidding in a Sentence

a harsh and forbidding landscape a dark, forbidding house, that is reputed to be haunted
Recent Examples on the Web Quin’s debut novel, out Feb. 13 from Atria Books, envisions Medea’s forbidding, power-seeking father, the son of a Titan and a sorcerer himself, and her beautiful, detached mother, a sea nymph who only wants to return to her ocean home. Diya Chacko, Orange County Register, 13 Feb. 2024 Tech companies have revealed decisions to slash more than 3,900 jobs in the Bay Area so far in 2024, cutbacks fueled by hundreds of staffing reductions in February that hint at a forbidding year for the crucial industry. George Avalos, The Mercury News, 7 Feb. 2024 What begins as an intriguing visit to a forbidding but fascinating past becomes the kind of perfunctorily moralistic fairy tale that Kahlen himself might scoff at, before getting back to work. Ann Hornaday, Washington Post, 31 Jan. 2024 But that crusade will come up against a thorny and forbidding set of complications, according to civil liberty experts — no matter how fired up the Swifties are. Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 25 Jan. 2024 Dwarfed by towering trees, the linear, low-slung, and unusually windowless façade provides a strong and almost forbidding sense of privacy and mystery from the street. Mark David, Robb Report, 23 Jan. 2024 But space is a harsh, incredibly forbidding domain. Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 22 Jan. 2024 In the clinical white of the gallery, art can be forbidding, aggrieved, elite, academic. Walker Mimms, New York Times, 4 Jan. 2024 Celebrities have a unique power to amplify an issue to a wide and diverse audience, and make a touchy subject less forbidding. Fiorella Valdesolo, Vogue, 11 Dec. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'forbidding.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1599, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of forbidding was in 1599

Dictionary Entries Near forbidding

Cite this Entry

“Forbidding.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/forbidding. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

forbidding

adjective
: tending to frighten or discourage
a dark forbidding sky
forbiddingly adverb

More from Merriam-Webster on forbidding

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