Meaning & use

verboten

adjective·Advanced

Forbidden, especially by an authority, rule, or strong social convention.

See it in a sentence

Discussing salaries openly was considered verboten in that office culture.

Bringing outside food into the theater is strictly verboten.

A note on using this word

Verboten is borrowed from German and often carries a slightly ironic or dramatic tone in English rather than sounding like an official rule.

Words with a similar meaning

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

permitted

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