verboten

adjective

ver·​bo·​ten vər-ˈbō-tᵊn 

fər-,

ver-

: not permitted or allowed : forbidden or prohibited by or as if by authority

These visits … qualify as "research" under the convoluted regulations of the U.S. embargo and are therefore deemed legal, whereas pleasure travel is verboten.

—Richard Alleman

Same-sex marriage and gay parents, topics once verboten in mainstream America, have become hot-buttons in this election year.

—Dirk Johnson et al.

… it's easy to forget that such intercultural exchanges were once verboten.

—Boston

For a long time paisley ties were verboten on the Jayhawk bench because Brown was wearing one when he lost his first game at Kansas five years ago.

—Jack McCallum

Did you know?

Despite its spelling, the adjective verboten has nothing to do with verb, or any of the other words in English related to Latin verbum. Rather, verboten comes from German, and originally from Old High German farboten, the past participle of the verb farbioten, meaning "to forbid." (Forbid itself derives from Old English forbēodan, a relative of farbioten.) Verboten is used to describe things that are forbidden according to a law or a highly regarded authority. There also exists the rarely used noun verboten, meaning "something forbidden by authority," as in "well-established verbotens."

Synonyms

• forbidden
• prohibited
• banned
• outlawed

Examples of verboten in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In the old days, this was verboten. —Bethy Squires, Vulture, 10 Oct. 2025

If Barça is verboten because your editor is from Madrid or something, then why don’t you guys use Barcelona instead? —Pol Ballús, New York Times, 13 Sep. 2025

Marquee transfers were rare, and paying players was verboten. —Jacob Feldman, Sportico.com, 29 Aug. 2025

At one point, when the Dorf merges with another colony, candles, musical instruments, and dolls are added to the list of verboten items; Ruth’s mother replaces her doll with a knot of terry cloth in the middle of the night. —Hillary Kelly, The Atlantic, 20 Aug. 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from German, going back to Old High German farboten, past participle of farbiotan "to forbid," (parallel to Old English forbēodan "to forbid entry 1"), from far-, fur- for- + biotan "to offer" — more at bid entry 1

First Known Use

1866, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for verboten

• multiphoton
• oaten

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