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embargo

 [em-bahr-goh]   Example Sentences Origin

em·bar·go

   [em-bahr-goh] noun, plural -goes, verb, -goed, -go·ing.
noun
1.
an order of a government prohibiting the movement of merchant ships into or out of its ports.
2.
an injunction from a government commerce agency to refuse freight for shipment, as in case of congestion or insufficient facilities.
3.
any restriction imposed upon commerce by edict.
4.
a restraint or hindrance; prohibition.
verb (used with object)
5.
to impose an embargo on.

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Origin:
1595–1605; < Spanish, derivative of embargar to hinder, embarrass < Vulgar Latin *imbarricāre, equivalent to im- im-1 + -barricāre (*barr(a) bar1 + -icāre causative suffix)

Related forms
pre·em·bar·go, adjective

Can be confused: boycott, embargo.

Synonyms
4. ban, restriction, interdiction, postscription.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To embargo
Example Sentences
  • It was believed than an embargo on certain ranges of commodities could help effectively to maintain this superiority.
  • The lifting of the arms embargo, they insist, would be “symbolic” in nature.
  • The overhyped stories that appeared before and just after the embargo lifted were obviously a problem.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
embargo (ɛmˈbɑːɡəʊ)
 
—n , pl -goes
1.  a government order prohibiting the departure or arrival of merchant ships in its ports
2.  any legal stoppage of commerce: an embargo on arms shipments
3.  a restraint, hindrance, or prohibition
 
—vb , -goes, -goes, -going, -goed
4.  to lay an embargo upon
5.  to seize for use by the state
 
[C16: from Spanish, from embargar, from Latin im- + barrabar1]

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

embargo
c.1593, from Sp. embargo "seizure, embargo," noun of action from embargar "restrain impede," from V.L. *imbarricare, from in- "into, upon" + *barra (see bar).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary

embargo definition


A governmental restriction on trade for political purposes. The objective is to put pressure on other governments by prohibiting exports to or imports from those countries.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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