prohibition

UK/ˌpɹəʊ(h)ɪˈbɪʃən/US/ˌpɹoʊ(h)ɪˈbɪʃən/

nounC1Common in everyday speech and writing · #7,696 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: prohibitions

A prohibition is an official ban on something. A prohibition on smoking, lift the prohibition, in breach of the prohibition.

With a capital letter it names the American ban on alcohol between 1920 and 1933, which is the word's most famous use. That episode is also the standard argument that a prohibition can create the trade it forbids.

Definitions of prohibition

1nounprohibitionAn official ban on something.C1
“The prohibition on parking was ignored from the first day.”

prohibition is a ban.

Where it comes from

Latin prohibitio comes from prohibere, to hold back, from pro plus habere, to hold.

Latin
prohibitiō
Old French
prohibicion
English, today
prohibition

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

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

prohibition in the wild

The Eighteenth Amendment (Amendment XVIII) to the United States Constitution established the prohibition of alcohol in the United States.
Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
In the early 20th century, many countries had alcohol prohibition.
Drug prohibition
Smuggling circumvents alcohol taxes and outright prohibition of alcohol sales.
Rum-running
Many communities introduced alcohol bans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and enforcement of these new prohibition laws became a topic of debate.
Prohibition in the United States
National prohibition was advocated by Mahatma Gandhi, as well as by many Indian women.
Alcohol prohibition in India

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

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