taboo
adjective
ta·boo
| \ tə-ˈbü
, ta-\
, ta-\
variants:
or less commonly tabu
Definition of taboo
(Entry 1 of 3)
1a
: banned on grounds of morality or taste
the subject is taboo
b
: banned as constituting a risk
the area beyond is taboo, still alive with explosives— Robert Leckie
2
: forbidden to profane use or contact because of what are held to be dangerous supernatural powers
taboo
noun
variants:
or less commonly tabu
plural taboos
also tabus
Definition of taboo (Entry 2 of 3)
1a
: a prohibition imposed by social custom or as a protective measure
… they may have developed a taboo against eating fish.— Jared Diamond
b
: something that is not acceptable to say, mention, or do : something that is taboo
… the tacticians in a conservative Republican Administration now deem membership in the club a taboo. — Peter J. Boyer
2
: a prohibition against touching, saying, or doing something for fear of immediate harm from a supernatural force
3
: belief in taboos
taboo
verb
variants:
or less commonly tabu
tabooed
also tabued;
tabooing
also tabuing;
taboos
also tabus
Definition of taboo (Entry 3 of 3)
1
: to set apart as taboo especially by marking with a ritualistic symbol
2
: to avoid or ban as taboo
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Synonyms & Antonyms for taboo
Synonyms: Adjective
banned, barred, forbidden, impermissible, interdicted, outlawed, prohibited, proscribed, verboten
Antonyms: Adjective
allowable, permissible, permissive, sufferable
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Examples of taboo in a Sentence
Adjective
Sex is a taboo subject for many people. In this company, dating a coworker is considered taboo.Noun
religious taboos against drinking alcohol Marrying a close relative is a taboo in many cultures.
Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective
My hope is by continuing to share grief and loss, and addressing these taboo subjects head on it will help people who have experienced the same to feel less alone. — Maria Pasquini, PEOPLE.com, "Meghan McCain Was 'Petrified' to Reveal She Had Suffered a Miscarriage: 'Don't Feel Bad for Us'," 21 July 2019 China The pushback against Trump on China is that tariffs are taboo and dangerous. — Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, "Trump — or What, Exactly?," 27 Aug. 2019 Arvind Gopalratnam, executive director of the foundation, said kids today are dealing with different issues than previous generations, and through that, mental health care is becoming a topic that isn't so taboo. — Grace Connatser, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Milwaukee Bucks Foundation announces over $300,000 in grants to 15 community organizations," 25 July 2019 The effect of the lighthearted sequence is not only to take a swipe at the feminine-hygiene industrial complex, but to dismiss the notion that discussion of menstruation should be taboo. — Celia Wren, Washington Post, "A little earnest absurdism about bodily functions goes a long way in the Welders’ ‘LadyM’," 16 July 2019 All these assessments, while generally accurate, were taboo in public Mexican discourse. — Tracy Wilkinson, latimes.com, "Trump's strong reaction to leak of British memos puts a chill on diplomacy," 11 July 2019 Tuesdays' historic ruling is win for LGBTQ activists and supporters in a country -- and region -- where homosexuality remains largely taboo. — Kara Fox, CNN, "Botswana scraps gay sex laws in big victory for LGBTQ rights in Africa," 11 June 2019 Beyond these factors, though, is an underlying cause that may contribute to many of the things our society thinks of as taboo or bad: fear of the unknown. — Sara Radin, Teen Vogue, "Taking Mental Health Medication Shouldn't Be Shameful," 24 May 2019 Aster is a longtime fan of the horror genre and kicked off his career with a controversial short film called The Strange Thing About the Johnsons, in which a son develops a taboo incestuous relationship with this father. — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, "Midsommar is a slasher film with artsy ambitions that doesn’t quite work," 4 July 2019Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
The rule change represented, in part, an acknowledgement that many states have decriminalized or even legalized marijuana, and that the drug now carries less of a taboo. — Pamela Wood, baltimoresun.com, "Across the board, Baltimore area police departments are much whiter than the people they serve," 11 Sep. 2019 Within the system of taboos of these egalitarian hunter-gatherers, laughing in certain situations can cause storms, illness, or even death. — Alice Rudge, Quartz, "Why we laugh when we know we shouldn’t," 28 Aug. 2019 To start, given that his family's from Austin, Texas, politics has never been a taboo subject around the Lafair dinner table. — Nathan Mattise, Ars Technica, "Mapmaker: The Gerrymandering game that puts the fun in undermining democracy," 19 Aug. 2019 Some add that any campus official who disputes this dogma, or who inadvertently violates the ever-expanding catalogue of taboos, should be hounded out of their job. — The Economist, "As societies polarise, free speech is under threat. It needs defenders," 15 Aug. 2019 She and Philo met and fell in love, something that seems to be a bit of a taboo pairing in this world. — Andrew Liptak, The Verge, "Amazon introduces Carnival Row’s world and characters in two new trailers," 20 July 2019 Twister’s subversion of taboos around personal space, no longer fatal baggage, quickly became one of its biggest assets. — Michael Waters, Smithsonian, "When Twister Was Too Risqué For America," 10 July 2019 The first day of school is on the horizon for Bay Area teenagers, and with the fresh notebooks and new locker combinations also comes a set of Asian American parents determined to change how their peers look at the taboo topic of mental health. — Gwendolyn Wu, SFChronicle.com, "Theater becomes therapy to help South Bay Asian American parents understand their kids," 9 Aug. 2019 Even in the early '90s, when sexuality was considered too taboo of a subject for television, MTV tried to spotlight LGBTQ young people, including the third season's Pedro Zamora, a Cuban-American gay man with AIDS. — Kendall Trammell, CNN, "'Are You The One?' is making history. But for MTV, it's just another show championing LGBTQ voices," 29 June 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'taboo.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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