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
Synonyms
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
See all Example Sentences for forbidding 
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
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
See all Example Sentences for forbidding
Dictionary Entries Near forbidding
Cite this Entry
“Forbidding.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/forbidding. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
forbidding
adjective
: tending to frighten or discourage
a dark forbidding sky
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share