prohibition - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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

prohibition (countable and uncountable, plural prohibitions)

(Signs exhibited at various churches)

  1. An act of prohibiting, forbidding, disallowing, or proscribing something.
    By its terms, the Twenty-Second Amendment bars only the election of two-term Presidents, and this prohibition would not prevent someone who had twice been elected President from succeeding to the office after having been elected or appointed Vice President. Broader language providing that no such person "shall be chosen or serve as President . . . or be eligible to hold the office" was rejected in favor of the Twenty-Second Amendment’s ban merely on election. (Amdt22.1 Overview of Twenty-Second Amendment, Presidential Term Limits, The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation)
    • 2021 December 20, Oren Liebermann, Barbara Starr, “Pentagon defines prohibited behavior in effort to tackle extremism”, in CNN‎[1], archived from the original on 4 April 2022:
      But the prohibition on active advocacy and participation left a wide margin of allowable activity and was open to interpretation.
    • 2025 January 30, Tierney Sneed, “Federal law banning handgun sales 18- to 20-year-olds is unconstitutional, appeals court rules”, in CNN‎[2], archived from the original on 22 April 2025:
      Appeals courts, including the 5th Circuit, have in the past upheld the federal ban in question. But more recently, some courts have shown hostility towards gun prohibitions aimed at 18- to 20-year-olds.
  2. A law prohibiting the manufacture or sale of alcohol.
    • 1954, Alben W. Barkley, That Reminds Me‎[3], Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 42:
      First, some persons might consider my advocacy of prohibition rather odd for a congressman coming from the state which produces the finest bourbon whiskey in the world. While this is true, it is also true that prior to the Eighteenth Amendment a large majority of the counties of Kentucky had voted against the sale of liquor under what was known as the county unit plan. Since repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment a substantial majority of Kentucky counties have voted under local option to outlaw liquor. My stand on the question, first in voting for the submission of the Eighteenth Amendment, and later for an amendment to appeal it, was a matter of principle and not of expediency.
  3. A period of time when specific socially disapproved consumables are considered controlled substances.

act of prohibiting

law that prohibits something

First attested in Old French, borrowed from Latin prohibitiōnem.

prohibition f (plural prohibitions)

  1. prohibition
    1. (specifically) prohibition of alcohol