prohibition

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun a law forbidding the sale of alcoholic beverages
noun a decree that prohibits something
noun the period from 1920 to 1933 when the sale of alcoholic beverages was prohibited in the United States by a constitutional amendment

From Anglo-Norman and Old French prohibicion, from Latin prohibitiō. By surface analysis, prohibit + -ion.

It is the prohibition of happiness. — Main Street, Sinclair Lewis
Well, hurrah for prohibition, after all! — The best short stories of 1920, and the yearbook of the American short story, Unknown
He hoped she would remove that prohibition soon. — Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman, Thomas Hardy

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