第3个回答 2018-04-19
When you forbid something, you refuse to allow it. You might have heard your parents say things like, "I forbid you to play ball in the house!" or "I forbid you to have any more parties when we're not home!"
Forbid comes from the Old English word forbeodan, meaning "forbid, prohibit." Forbid can also mean "prevent" or "keep from happening." The spare tire on your car will forbid you from driving any faster than 40 miles an hour — any faster and the car will shake. You may have heard forbid used in the expression "God forbid . . ." This refers to something you hope will not happen, so much so that you're asking God for a little help.
If a sign says "Swimming Prohibited," don't go for a dip. It's not allowed. To prohibit is to forbid, or to disallow something.
In school, you are prohibited from leaving the premises before the end of the school day. The school administration also prohibits smoking and chewing gum. In 1920, it became illegal to sell alcohol in the United States. This time period when alcohol was prohibited is known as the era of Prohibition. Famously Prohibition did not work. When you prohibit something, you often make it seem more appealing.
The verb to ban means to forbid something from being or happening; the word can also be used as a noun. A school board might put a ban on all books that referred to Jefferson's mistress if they didn't want anyone reading about her.
If your parents are upset by how much time you spend surfing the net, they might ban all computers in the house. But you're smart: you can just use your phone or go over a friend's place. To ban something is to put a ban on it. Something with a ban on it is said to be banned. At the height of the disco craze, radio DJs banned all disco records. To get listeners to join their ban, they encouraged them to destroy their disco records in public.