variants
also tabu
as in forbidden
that may not be permitted
asking a guest how much money he or she makes is strictly taboo because it's a rude question to ask a stranger
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
variants
also tabu
1
as in prohibition
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
2
as in anathema
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of taboo
ABC News, 23 Feb. 2026
But unlike the dark-romance trope in novels and fanfiction, which centers on taboo relationships and morally gray characters, these looks are less about shock value and more about heightened emotion.
—Jesa Marie Calaor, Allure, 10 Feb. 2026
ABC News, 10 Mar. 2026
Trump has embraced unilateral uses of force — including the once-taboo targeting of heads of state, a Harvard professor noted — to achieve his foreign policy goals.
—semafor.com, 3 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for taboo
Adjective
Series about once-taboo topics, like torture in Assad’s notorious prisons, are being shot inside Syria.
—ABC News, 23 Feb. 2026
But unlike the dark-romance trope in novels and fanfiction, which centers on taboo relationships and morally gray characters, these looks are less about shock value and more about heightened emotion.
—Jesa Marie Calaor, Allure, 10 Feb. 2026
Noun
With Liu's rise, her father's story bubbled up in China's social media, though any mention was usually brief and cryptic because the 1989 Tiananmen Movement — generally known as 6-4 for the date of the military crackdown, remains a deeply sensitive political taboo in China 37 years later.
—ABC News, 10 Mar. 2026
Trump has embraced unilateral uses of force — including the once-taboo targeting of heads of state, a Harvard professor noted — to achieve his foreign policy goals.
—semafor.com, 3 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for taboo
Recent Examples of Synonyms for taboo
Adjective
-
Less than an hour’s drive from the holiday markets, on the way to Salla and its forbidden frontier, hundreds of Finnish soldiers are training to repel any future Russian invasion.—
Liam Denning,
Bloomberg,
12 Mar. 2026
-
Women, whether secular or religious, remain forbidden to read, write or tell stories.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
5 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
At the state level, a bill was passed in the Missouri House that would mirror the federal prohibition.—
Jack Harvel,
Kansas City Star,
26 Mar. 2026
-
But the state’s high court rejected that argument in a 4-3 decision, concluding there was no explicit prohibition against the Legislature doing redistricting more often.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
24 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
The two media personalities have come to represent an emerging, anti-Israel wing of the Republican party that indulges in antisemitic conspiracy theories and is anathema to the RJC and its rank-and-file.—
Joseph Strauss,
Sun Sentinel,
16 Mar. 2026
-
After all, the concept is considered antithetical or anathema to the Iranian Revolution, which deposed the monarchy led by the shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in 1979.—
Eric Lob,
The Conversation,
5 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
There is, however, room for questions about where the line between prohibited and acceptable political involvement will fall in practice.—
BrieAnna J. Frank,
USA Today,
11 July 2025
-
The list of prohibited and restricted items, as found on the CBP website, includes alcohol, biological materials, firearms, food and produce such as fruits and vegetables, soil, wildlife, fish, and gold, among other items.—
Dan Perry,
Newsweek,
28 Feb. 2025
Noun
-
People even had them as pets (though that’s a no-no today).—
Matt Leclercq,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
30 Mar. 2026
-
Traditionally, shorts and boots are a no-no.—
Kelsey Stiegman,
Glamour,
26 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Yes, the opening animation was an abomination, but what followed was almost — almost — enough to make up for it.—
Rebecca Alter,
Vulture,
7 Feb. 2026
-
Orthodox Jews viewed the pop-up novelty with its mixed troupes as an abomination, but young female actors and singers embraced the emancipatory promise of the stage.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
22 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Members also identified rate volatility, flight cancellations, capacity constraints and longer transit times as the most common issues, alongside growing customer service pressures and space embargoes.—
Glenn Taylor,
Sourcing Journal,
25 Mar. 2026
-
Torres Rivera presented the embargo as the very thing inhibiting changes to Cuba’s economic model.—
Francesca Chambers,
USA Today,
24 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
But there’s more to it than gleeful perversions of genre.—
Carolina A. Miranda,
The Atlantic,
5 Mar. 2026
-
This garish cavalcade of perversions, which just premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, should have been shocking and transgressive; the pieces are certainly there.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
15 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Taboo.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/taboo. Accessed 2 Apr. 2026.
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