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View synonyms for embargo

embargo

[ em-bahr-goh ]

noun

, plural em·bar·goes.
  1. any restriction imposed upon commerce by edict, especially against a certain country as a penalty or to induce compliance with demands or legal obligations:

    The United Nations fact-finding mission recommended the imposition of an arms embargo and other targeted economic sanctions on the rogue state.

    The software may not be exported into any country with which the United States maintains a trade embargo prohibiting the shipment of goods.

  2. an order of a government prohibiting the movement of merchant ships into or out of its ports.
  3. an injunction from a government commerce agency to refuse freight for shipment, as in case of congestion or insufficient facilities.
  4. a restraint or hindrance; prohibition:

    A one-year embargo on her published dissertation allowed only the title, abstract, and citation information to be released to the public.

    Synonyms: proscription, interdiction, restriction, ban



verb (used with object)

, em·bar·goed, em·bar·go·ing.
  1. to impose an embargo on.

embargo

/ ɛmˈbɑːɡəʊ /

noun

  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


verb

  1. to lay an embargo upon
  2. to seize for use by the state

embargo

  1. 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.


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Other Words From

  • pre·em·bar·go adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of embargo1

First recorded in 1595–1605; from Spanish, derivative of embargar “to hinder, embarrass,” from unattested Vulgar Latin imbarricāre, equivalent to im- im- 1 + unattested -barricāre ( barr(a) bar 1 + -icāre causative suffix)

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Word History and Origins

Origin of embargo1

C16: from Spanish, from embargar, from Latin im- + barra bar 1

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Example Sentences

Washington has alternated with punishing Haitian leaders with cruel embargoes to humiliating Haitians with military takeovers since the country was founded almost 220 years ago.

From Time

Ukrainian officials recoiled at the notion of lifting their arms embargo against Russia in the middle of a war.

From Time

The Blade can neither confirm nor deny if it lives up to the hype – there’s still a review embargo at the time of this writing – but we can say that it’s probably something you should plan to see on the big screen.

Tokyo was almost entirely dependent on China for the critical metals, and the embargo exposed this acute vulnerability.

From Quartz

The company would eventually name the plant after McKenzie’s boss, CEO Bob Scherer, who guided Georgia Power through a tumultuous period marked by the oil embargo of the 1970s.

There was really only one good reason to maintain the embargo: Trade with Cuba strengthens the Castros.

If the embargo were effective, the Castro brothers would have been doing Love Letters with the Duvaliers years ago.

Obama has latched on to the failure of the embargo to topple the Castros as justification to shuffle the deck.

But only Congress has the ability to completely lift the trade embargo, which has been in place since 1962.

Most age cohorts still supported it, but those who left Cuba after 1995 were against the embargo by 58-42 percent.

Between them, it was agreed that there should be no recalling of the past, but the very embargo whetted his appetite.

It had no effect; the price reached 49s., and on the 26th the council laid an embargo on exportation.

As, however, prices were rising, all parties agreed that the embargo was in itself a justifiable measure.

An embargo laid on the export of provisions from Ireland ruined her trade in cattle.

Sir, we believed the embargo unconstitutional; but still that was matter of opinion, and who was to decide it?

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