Synonyms of forbidding

forbidding 1 of 3

adjective

fər-ˈbi-diŋ 

1

as in terrifying

causing fear

a dark, forbidding house, that is reputed to be haunted

Synonyms & Similar Words

• terrifying
• frightening
• formidable
• scary
• horrible
• terrible
• intimidating
• fearful
• dread
• alarming
• shocking
• horrifying
• threatening
• startling
• eerie
• creepy
• dreadful
• trying
• ghastly
• frightful
• fearsome
• discouraging
• troubling
• dire
• disturbing
• redoubtable
• horrendous
• gruesome
• direful
• spine-chilling
• unnerving
• hair-raising
• daunting
• disconcerting
• perturbing
• demoralizing
• disquieting
• hideous
• weird
• distressing
• dismaying
• appalling
• nightmarish
• horrid
• grisly
• monstrous
• awful
• macabre
• bone-chilling
• atrocious

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• reassuring
• comforting
• inviting
• relaxing
• soothing
• calming
• consoling
• tranquilizing
• nonthreatening
• quieting
• lulling
• pacifying
• nonintimidating

2

as in intimidating

harsh and threatening in manner or appearance

told us in a forbidding voice to stop calling him by that name

Synonyms & Similar Words

• intimidating
• gruff
• stern
• fierce
• grim
• hostile
• rugged
• bleak
• severe
• lowering
• stark
• austere
• rough
• dour
• dark
• cold
• flinty
• hardened
• steely
• somber
• ungentle
• solemn
• stubborn
• inhospitable
• unfriendly
• inimical
• black
• intent
• moody
• resolute
• adamant
• determined
• bound
• rigid
• unsympathetic
• stiff
• obstinate
• unflinching
• uncompromising
• steadfast
• implacable
• willful
• inflexible
• resolved
• unrelenting
• unbending
• purposeful
• unyielding
• cheerless
• obdurate
• immovable
• serious
• unchangeable
• hard
• fixed
• gloomy
• firm
• immutable
• sullen
• joyless
• surly
• melancholy
• brooding
• morose
• unsmiling
• set
• mulish
• sulky
• melancholic
• hardheaded
• staid
• grave
• humorless
• glum
• self-willed
• sober
• ironhanded
• weighty
• sobersided

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• benign
• mild
• gentle
• easy
• soft
• bland
• tender
• soothing
• benignant
• quiet
• mellow
• meek
• pleasant
• agreeable
• tranquil
• sweet
• inviting
• nonintimidating
• bright
• cheerful
• pleasing
• happy
• glad
• merry
• sunny
• silly
• frivolous
• playful
• lighthearted
• mirthful
• goofy
• giddy
• harebrained
• flighty
• scatterbrained
• featherbrained
• light-headed

forbidding

2 of 3

noun

as in prohibiting

the act of ordering that something not be done or used

the landlord's forbidding of loud music after 10:00 p.m.

Synonyms & Similar Words

• prohibiting
• prohibition
• banning
• outlawing
• barring
• enjoining
• proscription
• proscribing
• interdiction
• suppression
• interdicting
• charging
• instruction
• bidding
• dictation
• decreeing
• direction
• discouragement
• deterrence
• repression
• dissuading
• coercion
• compulsion
• constraint
• force

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• permission
• approval
• allowance
• sanction
• toleration
• support
• endorsement
• license
• clearance
• authorization
• promotion
• sufferance
• encouragement
• compliance
• submission
• obedience

forbidding

3 of 3

verb

present participle of forbid

as in banning

to order not to do or use or to be done or used

smoking is forbidden throughout the building

we forbid you to see him

Synonyms & Similar Words

• prohibiting
• banning
• outlawing
• preventing
• discouraging
• proscribing
• enjoining
• barring
• halting
• stopping
• excluding
• interdicting
• precluding
• restraining
• deterring
• curbing
• blocking
• quashing
• dissuading
• suppressing
• repressing
• rejecting
• disallowing
• silencing
• depriving
• subduing
• impeding
• quelling
• vetoing
• hindering
• inhibiting
• obstructing
• squelching
• shutting out
• checking
• ruling out
• repudiating
• crushing
• squashing
• debarring
• cracking down (on)
• embargoing
• clamping down (on)
• putting down
• bridling
• snuffing (out)
• reining (in)

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• permitting
• allowing
• letting
• approving
• authorizing
• suffering
• endorsing
• sanctioning
• supporting
• promoting
• encouraging
• advancing
• warranting
• licensing
• furthering
• ordering
• cultivating
• commanding
• abetting
• forwarding
• nurturing
• enduring
• bidding
• bearing
• tolerating
• abiding
• nourishing
• countenancing
• brooking

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of forbidding

Adjective

Al enthusiastically pointed out 14th-century Doune Castle, a forbidding pile of stones that today is less known as a royal retreat for Mary, Queen of Scots, and Bonnie Prince Charlie than as a popular movie and TV setting. — Patti Nickell, Boston Herald, 15 Feb. 2026

Reams of barbed wire gathered from the fields around Penpont were fashioned into a mesh curtain whose ends wrapped around two columns at the top of the museum’s grand staircase; the result was both alluring and forbidding. — Rebecca Mead, New Yorker, 9 Feb. 2026

Noun

But Cheney rarely tried to combat the image painted by critics and comedians of him as a dour partisan, dark and forbidding. — Susan Page, USA Today, 4 Nov. 2025

Verb

The venue was a blockish and forbidding space called Magazine, which squats in a loop of the Thames, in southeast London. — Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 13 July 2026

Anyone attempting to think seriously about Elon Musk is confronted with a forbidding cognitive dissonance. — Mark O’Connell, The New York Review of Books, 4 July 2026