Meaning & use
trade embargo
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountableformal
An official ban by a government on trading with another country, or on certain goods, usually as a political penalty.
Grammar: Countable with a: a trade embargo, several trade embargoes.
Patterns
- impose a trade embargo on someone
- lift a trade embargo
- a trade embargo against someone
The government imposed a trade embargo on the country after the invasion.
The trade embargo made medicine hard to import.
Several nations voted to lift the trade embargo this year.
Word forms
| plural | trade embargoes |
|---|
Common combinations
- impose a trade embargo
- The council voted to impose a trade embargo.
- lift a trade embargo
- The president promised to lift the trade embargo.
- break a trade embargo
- Some ships tried to break the trade embargo.
- a full trade embargo
- A full trade embargo covers every product.
- a trade embargo against
- A trade embargo against the regime stayed in place for decades.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sanctions
- Sanctions is a wider word for penalties of many kinds, including freezing assets, while a trade embargo is specifically about stopping trade.
- boycott
- A boycott is a refusal to buy or deal, often by citizens or companies, whereas an embargo is ordered by a government.
- blockade
- A blockade physically stops ships or goods from entering, so it is a stronger and often military act.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: trade embargo or tariff?
trade embargo vs tariff
A tariff is a tax on imports, so goods can still enter. A trade embargo forbids the trade itself.
Practice
What does a trade embargo do?
Choose one answer.
An embargo is a ban on trade. The first option describes a tariff, which taxes imports but does not forbid them.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “trade embargo”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.