Online dictionaryOnline dictionary
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home 		English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Taboo   /tæbˈu/   Listen
Taboo

noun
(Written also tabu)
1.
A prejudice (especially in Polynesia and other South Pacific islands) that prohibits the use or mention of something because of its sacred nature.  Synonym: tabu.
2.
An inhibition or ban resulting from social custom or emotional aversion.  Synonym: tabu.
adjective
(Written also tabu and tapu)
1.
Excluded from use or mention.  Synonyms: forbidden, out, prohibited, proscribed, tabu, verboten.  "In our house dancing and playing cards were out" , "A taboo subject"
2.
Forbidden to profane use especially in South Pacific islands.  Synonym: tabu.
verb
(past & past part. tabooed; pres. part. tabooing)  (Written also tabu)
1.
Declare as sacred and forbidden.





WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University


Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words


Share |
Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar




"Taboo" Quotes from Famous Books



... The "taboo," or "tapu," prevails also in many of the South Sea Islands, where it may be considered as the substitute for law; although its authority, in reality, rests on what we should rather call religious considerations, inasmuch as it appears to be obeyed ...
— John Rutherford, the White Chief • George Lillie Craik
... be tapu." It is impossible to explain tapu in a note; we have it as an English word, taboo. Suffice it, that a thing which was tapu must not be touched, nor a place that ...
— Ballads • Robert Louis Stevenson
... Morris and Stella met at breakfast as usual, but as though by mutual consent neither of them alluded to the events of the previous evening. Thus the name of Mr. Layard was "taboo," nor were any more questions asked, or statements volunteered as to that journey, the toils of which Morris had suddenly discovered he was after all able to avoid. This morning, as it chanced, no experiments were carried on, principally because it was necessary ...
— Stella Fregelius • H. Rider Haggard
... obligation of "making a third" with him and Rhoda Johnson. Also, one would feel safer; one didn't really trust Vyvian not to be doing little private deals of his own; so little, in fact, did one trust him that the names of dealers were rigorously taboo now on ...
— The Lee Shore • Rose Macaulay
... motion had been discovered. Why must an American woman have a rocking-chair? In no other country in the world, excepting among the creoles of South America, is this awkward piece of furniture so popular. Burn the cradles and taboo the graceless rocking-chair, and our children will have steadier heads and our women learn the attractive grace ...
— Four Months in a Sneak-Box • Nathaniel H. Bishop


More quotes...


Copyright © 2025 Dictionary One.com