forbid
/forbid/ verb (forbidding; past forbade /forbad, -bayd/ or forbad; past part. forbidden) 1 refuse to allow. 2 order not to do. PHRASES the forbidden degrees the number of steps of descent from the same ancestor that bar two related people from marrying. forbidden fruit a thing that is desired all the more because it is not allowed. with biblical allusion to the Book of Genesis, chapter 2. God (or Heaven) forbid expressing a fervent wish that something does not happen. ORIGIN Old English.
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