Loading page
say it: ta-BOO
taboo is a noun, adjective and verb meaning "a prejudice (especially in Polynesia and other South Pacific islands) that prohibits the use or mention of something because of its sacred nature". It is pronounced /tæˈbu/ — ta-BOO. It carries 5 recorded senses.
an inhibition or ban resulting from social custom or emotional aversion
excluded from use or mention
“forbidden fruit”
“in our house dancing and playing cards were out”
“a taboo subject”
declare as sacred and forbidden
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for taboo come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.