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taboo

adjective · noun · verb

Simple meaning

Excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

taboo

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

tæˈbu

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention.

  2. Culturally forbidden.

noun

  1. An inhibition or ban resulting from social custom or emotional aversion

  2. in Polynesia

    Something which may not be used, approached or mentioned because it is sacred.

verb

  1. To avoid.

  2. To mark as taboo.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention.

Used this way, taboo is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use taboo

  • “In some cultures, discussing money publicly is considered a taboo subject.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

taboo subjecttaboo wordstaboo topicstrictly taboo

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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: inhibition or ban resulting from social custom

tabu

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.