forbidding

adjective

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for·bid·ding | \ fər-ˈbi-diŋ

, fȯr- \

Definition of forbidding

1 : such as to make approach or passage difficult or impossible forbidding walls

2 : disagreeable, repellent a forbidding task

3 : grim, menacing a dark forbidding sky

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Examples of forbidding in a Sentence

a harsh and forbidding landscape a dark, forbidding house, that is reputed to be haunted

Recent Examples on the Web Beautiful in a forbidding, raw-boned way, with about half its territory above the Arctic Circle, it is separated from the westernmost Alaskan reaches of America by just 86 kilometers. — Jessica Kiang, Variety, 14 Jan. 2022 In Florida, searchers on Thursday spent a fifth unsuccessful day searching for Laundrie in the forbidding wilderness preserve near his parents’ home. — BostonGlobe.com, 23 Sep. 2021 His latest film, made inside a hospital in Queens as the COVID-19 pandemic hammered New York City in 2020, proved more forbidding than any of his previous projects. — Steve Dollar, Los Angeles Times, 29 Nov. 2021 In Florida, searchers on Thursday spent a fifth unsuccessful day searching for Laundrie in the forbidding wilderness preserve near his parents’ home. — BostonGlobe.com, 23 Sep. 2021 In Florida, searchers on Thursday spent a fifth unsuccessful day searching for Laundrie in the forbidding wilderness preserve near his parents’ home. — BostonGlobe.com, 23 Sep. 2021 When bad things go down in Charles Dickens, the scene is set in a forbidding moor. — Washington Post, 10 Aug. 2021 The Svalbard vault, known for its forbidding modern design, is a kind of seed ark, designed to protect Earth’s biodiversity in case of Armageddon; seeds are not supposed to leave it unless something goes very, very wrong. — Helen Sullivan, The New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2021 The outdoors search includes thousands of acres of forbidding, swampy subtropical terrain replete with alligators, snakes, bobcats, coyotes, turkey, deer and many other wild creatures. — Curt Anderson, The Salt Lake Tribune, 22 Sep. 2021

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'forbidding.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.