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ban

[ban]

verb (used with object)

to prohibit, forbid, or bar; interdict: to ban nuclear weapons; The dictator banned all newspapers and books that criticized his regime.

Archaic.

to pronounce an ecclesiastical curse upon.

to curse; execrate.

noun

the act of prohibiting by law; interdiction.

informal denunciation or prohibition, as by public opinion: society's ban on racial discrimination.

Law.

a proclamation.

a public condemnation.

Ecclesiastical. a formal condemnation; excommunication.

a malediction; curse.

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Ban is one of our favorite verbs.

So is absquatulate. Does it mean:

to flee; abscond:

to expurgate (a written work) by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable.

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Origin:
before 1000; Middle English bannen, Old English bannan to summon, proclaim; cognate with Old Norse banna to curse (probably influencing some senses of ME word), Old High German bannan; akin to Latin fārī to speak, Sanskrit bhanati (he) speaks

Related forms

ban·na·ble, adjective

un·banned, adjective

Can be confused: band, banned.

Synonyms
1. taboo, outlaw, proscribe. 3. prohibition, proscription, interdict. 3, 4. taboo.

Antonyms
1. allow.

Example Sentences

The ban on cellphones in schools is not new, but it still inspires many opinions and hot debate.

Even when a ban coincides with a fall in consumption, as with ivory, demand-and thus poaching-has a habit of coming back.

Rodriguez said she needed to be better informed before making a decision on whether or not the ban should be kept or revised.

EXPAND

The ban on cellphones in schools is not new, but it still inspires many opinions and hot debate.

Even when a ban coincides with a fall in consumption, as with ivory, demand-and thus poaching-has a habit of coming back.

Rodriguez said she needed to be better informed before making a decision on whether or not the ban should be kept or revised.

Unfortunately, the ban failed, and fishing will continue.

Germany, fearing environmental hazards, moves to ban a new genetically altered variety of corn.

Walcott weighs-in on the ban on cellphones, following our conversations with parents, teachers and students.

Students will investigate the controversial issues surrounding the use of a chemical called atrazine and calls for its ban.

Ban trawling now, and eventually phase out hunting fish altogether, it's evolution.

Suburbanites tired of the screech of leaf blowers have long pressed their communities to ban or restrict use of the tools.

We must work to ban the sales of leather and hides, too.

Now the national park management is planning to ban climbers.

If the ban stays in place, millions of followers of the participating golfers will feel the pinch of social media silence.

The ban was repealed after complaints over the law's severity.

No federal laws regulate private ownership, and only nine states ban individuals from owning nonhuman primates.

Wildlife preserves traditionally ban human residents.

The problem with the cigarette ban is that it fails to define what a cigarette is.

More recently he had been a strong proponent of a ban on research financed by the tobacco industry.

In any case, the precedents for a ban are not encouraging:.

Congress to hold off on a ban on trade in pythons and other large exotic snakes until research into how much of a.

When scientists find chemicals that disrupt human systems, regulators must ban them.

California's lead bullet ban protects condors and other wildlife, but its biggest beneficiaries may be humans.

Community standards confront claims of free expression in a town's ban on sagging pants.

In the next few months it is to bring in a ban on advertising foods that contain lots.

Mississippi lawmakers introduce bill that would ban restaurants from serving portly patrons.

China was too quick in lifting its ban on the sale of market animals, say researchers.

Reptile retailers, brace yourselves: the federal government wants to ban the import of some large and seemingly popular snakes.

Indian farmers planted less sugarcane last year after sugar prices fell, partly in response to a ban on exports.

Somalia is not catastrophically affected by the ban.

Now environmentalists are urging a ban on a common veterinary.

Western nations should ban the importation of goods produced by slaves and attach levies to countries that support slavery.

Where it is legal, this is often because politicians deny it exists, and so have not bothered to ban it.

But, she noted, the wording on such a ban needs to be developed carefully.

It could take action ranging from restrictions on its use on crops to an outright ban.

The bizarre coming and going of the ban is proving a great incentive for viewers to catch the film while they can.

Congress continues to study various proposals for enacting such a total ban.

Those who oppose a ban on burqa say that such a ban goes against the principles of individual liberties.

Of course, fear of dogs on walkers isn't the reason behind the ban.

Overturn this idiotic ban and solve the problem the right way.

To take a visual census of the island's famed biodiversity and see if a recent ban on bush-meat hunting was being enforced.

COLLAPSE

Dictionary.com Unabridged

noun

a public proclamation or edict.

bans, Ecclesiastical. banns.

(in the feudal system)

the summoning of the sovereign's vassals for military service.

the body of vassals summoned.

Origin:
1200–50; Middle English, aphetic variant of iban, Old English gebann proclamation, summons to arms (derivative of bannan ban¹), influenced in some senses by Old French ban, from same Germanic base

noun

(formerly) the governor of Croatia and Slavonia.

History/Historical. a provincial governor of the southern marches of Hungary.

Origin:
1605–15; < Serbo-Croatian bân, contracted from *bojan, *bajan, said to be < a Turkic personal name, perhaps introduced into the Balkans by the Avars; compare Medieval Greek bo(e)ános ban

noun, plural ba·ni

[bah-nee] .

a Romanian coin, the 100th part of a leu.

Origin:
1960–65; < Romanian, of uncertain origin, perhaps < Serbo-Croatian bân ban³

Link To ban

Collins

World English Dictionary

ban¹ (bæn)

—vb , bans, banning, banned
1.	(tr) to prohibit, esp officially, from action, display, entrance, sale, etc; forbid: to ban a book; to ban smoking
2.	(tr) (formerly in South Africa) to place (a person suspected of illegal political activity) under a government order restricting his movement and his contact with other people
3.	archaic to curse

—n
4.	an official prohibition or interdiction
5.	law an official proclamation or public notice, esp of prohibition
6.	a public proclamation or edict, esp of outlawry
7.	archaic public censure or condemnation
8.	archaic a curse; imprecation

[Old English bannan to proclaim; compare Old Norse banna to forbid, Old High German bannan to command]

ban² (bæn)

—n
	(in feudal England) the summoning of vassals to perform their military obligations

[C13: from Old French ban, of Germanic origin; related to Old High German ban command, Old Norse bannban¹]

ban³ (bæn)

—n , pl bani
	a monetary unit of Romania and Moldova worth one hundredth of a leu

[from Romanian, from Serbo-Croat bān lord]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

ban

O.E. bannan "to summon, command, proclaim," from P.Gmc. *bannan "proclaim, command, forbid" (cf. O.H.G. bannan "to command or forbid under threat of punishment," Ger. bannen "banish, expel, curse"), originally "to speak publicly," from PIE base *bha- "to speak" (cf. O.Ir. bann "law," Armenian ban "word;"

EXPAND

see fame). Main modern sense of "to prohibit" is from O.N. cognate banna "curse, prohibit," and probably in part from O.Fr. ban, which meant "outlawry, banishment," among other things (see banal) and was a borrowing from Germanic. The sense evolution in Germanic was from "speak" to "proclaim a threat" to (in O.N., Ger., etc.) "curse." The Germanic root, borrowed in Latin and French, has been productive: cf. banish, bandit, contraband, etc. Banned in Boston dates from 1920s, in allusion to the excessive zeal and power of that city's Watch and Ward Society.

ban

"governor of Croatia," from Serbo-Croat. ban "lord, master, ruler," from Pers. ban "prince, lord, chief, governor," related to Skt. pati "guards, protects." Hence banat "district governed by a ban," with Latinate suffix -atus. The Persian word got into Slavic perhaps via the Avars.

ban

"edict of prohibition," from ban (v.). O.E. (ge)bann meant "proclamation, summons, command."

COLLAPSE

Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia

ban

former Hungarian title denoting a governor of a military district (banat) and later designating a local representative of the Hungarian king in outlying possessions, e.g., Bosnia and Croatia. Originally a Persian word, ban was introduced into Europe by the Avars. The Kingdom of Yugoslavia, divided into banovine, or provinces, revived the title and office of ban in October 1929 and used it until the German-Italian invasion of April 1941.

Learn more about ban with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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Matching Quote

"It is cruel for you to leave your daughter, so full of hope and resolve, to suffer the humiliations of disfranchisement she already feels so keenly, and which she will find more and more galling as she grows into the stronger and grander woman she is sure to be. If it were your son who for any cause was denied his right to have his opinion counted, you would compass sea and land to lift the ban from him."

-Susan B. Anthony

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