Origin: Latin suffix -tion
Prohibition has 7 different meanings across 2 categories:
a law forbidding the sale of alcoholic beverages
"in 1920 the 18th amendment to the Constitution established prohibition in the US"
a decree that prohibits something
"The new prohibition banned all alcohol sales in the city center starting at midnight."
the period from 1920 to 1933 when the sale of alcoholic beverages was prohibited in the United States by a constitutional amendment
"The prohibition era ended in 1933 after twenty years of banning alcohol sales across the nation."
refusal to approve or assent to
"The committee's prohibition on the new project stemmed from their refusal to approve its budget request."
the action of prohibiting or inhibiting or forbidding (or an instance thereof)
"they were restrained by a prohibition in their charter"
"a medical inhibition of alcoholic beverages"
"he ignored his parents' forbiddance"
An act of prohibiting, forbidding, disallowing, or proscribing something.
"The new law serves as a strict prohibition on smoking in all public buildings."
In plain English: A prohibition is an official rule that says you are not allowed to do something specific.
"The new prohibition on smoking in public places surprised many longtime patrons."
Usage: Prohibition refers to an official ban on specific activities rather than the general concept of stopping someone from doing something. Use this term when describing a formal law that makes certain actions illegal, such as alcohol bans in history.
Any of several periods during which the manufacture, transportation, import, export, and sale of alcoholic beverages were restricted or illegal,
"The Prohibition era in America made it illegal to sell alcohol."
The word prohibition comes from the Latin prohibitiō, which entered English via Anglo-Norman and Old French. It originally carried the meaning of a ban or restriction on an action.