Thursday, October 3, 2013

forbid, forebode, forbidding, foreboding

Forbid or forbid means to prohibit; to refuse to allow something--
He's grounded. We want him to go with us, but his parents forbid it.
He forbid the children playing in his office.
I forbid you to throw things!

Forebode or forebode means to predict or portend, especially something evil or disastrous--
The gloomy weather seemed to forebode an unhappy afternoon.
Some people still believe that owls forebode bad luck.

Forbidding or forbidding is a participle of "forbid", meaning to prohibit or refuse to allow--
The management is now forbidding all coffee breaks.
They are thinking of forbidding smoking on the patio.

Forbidding or forbidding also means hostile or sinister--
The gloomy old house had a forbidding aspect.
The deserted town seemed forbidding in the moonlight.

Foreboding or foreboding means a presentiment of evil or catastrophe--
Every noise frightened her; she couldn't shake a feeling of foreboding.
The accident later seemed a foreboding of worse things to come.

Now that you know that, you can say--
"It was no use forbidding them to go in the forbidding old house; even an eerie feeling of foreboding didn't stop them."
"If the signs forebode evil, the old woman will forbid the trip they've planned."

Note--"forbidden" is an adjective ( describes a thing or idea ), meaning prohibited, or not allowed--
The first humans were banished from paradise because they ate the forbidden fruit.
Running in the halls is forbidden.
Note # 2--"forbade" is a past tense ( yesterday, or some time ago ) of "forbid"--
Yesterday his parents forbade him going to the movies.
The more commonly used past tense of "forbid" is simply "forbid"--
Yesterday his parents forbid him going to the movies.

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