taboo

noun

1. 1

   An inhibition or ban that results from social custom or emotional aversion.

   It is true indeed that a taboo - in order to be a proper taboo - must not rest in the general mind on argument or reason.

   So among the Alfoors of the island of Buru it is taboo to mention the names of parents and parents-in-law, or even to speak of common objects by words which resemble these names in sound.

   The sharp differentiation of the sexes in our culture was shaped most probably by monogamy and monosexuality and their tabus.

   For a structuralist like Edmund Leach, the structure is the meaning. Genesis, for example, is about incest taboos; all the rest is noise and mystification.

2. 2

   Something which may not be used, approached or mentioned because it is sacred.

adjective

1. 1

   Excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention.

   Incest is a taboo subject in most soap operas.

   Sweets and fats are strictly taboo in my home.

2. 2

   Culturally forbidden.

verb

1. 1

   To mark as taboo.

2. 2

   To ban or prohibit.

   They lunched, but if the subject of Carrados had been tabooed the meal would have been a silent one.

3. 3

   To avoid.

Forms

plural

taboos

comparative

more taboo

superlative

most taboo

past tense

tabooed

past participle

tabooed

present participle

tabooing

third person singular

taboos