forbidding

adjective

for·​bid·​ding fər-ˈbi-diŋ 

fȯr-

1

: such as to make approach or passage difficult or impossible

forbidding walls

2

: disagreeable, repellent

a forbidding task

3

: grim, menacing

a dark forbidding sky

forbiddingly

fər-ˈbi-diŋ-lē 

fȯr-

adverb

Synonyms

• alarming
• dire
• direful
• dread
• dreadful
• fearful
• fearsome
• formidable
• frightening
• frightful
• ghastly
• hair-raising
• horrendous
• horrible
• horrifying
• intimidating
• redoubtable
• scary
• shocking
• spine-chilling
• terrible
• terrifying

Examples of forbidding in a Sentence

a harsh and forbidding landscape

a dark, forbidding house, that is reputed to be haunted

Recent Examples on the Web

Slowly, the color drains out of the image and the green frontier becomes a forbidding, black-and-white expanse. —Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 21 June 2024

For months, housing market conditions in a handful of battleground counties have been slightly less forbidding than in the U.S. overall, according to NBC News’ Home Buyer Index, which measures the relative difficulty of buying a home from one county to the next nationwide. —Shannon Pettypiece, NBC news, 22 Oct. 2024

This forbidding combination unleashed costly real estate loans and big jumps in the cost of materials and labor to build projects. —George Avalos, The Mercury News, 13 Aug. 2024

This back-and-forth dance with the machine made the whole process of coding less forbidding. —Clive Thompson, WIRED, 29 July 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1599, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

forbidding

adjective

: tending to frighten or discourage

a dark forbidding sky

forbiddingly

-iŋ-lē 

adverb