Forbid
Forbid verb - To order not to do or use or to be done or used.
Usage example: we forbid you to see him
Prevent
Prevent verb - To keep from happening by taking action in advance.
Usage example: a lot of problems would have been prevented if we'd just prepared better
Forbid is a synonym for prevent in obstruct topic. You can use "Forbid" instead a verb "Prevent", if it concerns topics such as disallow, keep from happening or continuing. popular alternative
Mutual synonyms
Common collocations
Both words in one sentence
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He has only had to explicitly forbid his students from killing humans twice: once before they went up against Gastro, and the other to prevent Nagisa from murdering Takaoka.
Source: Manga / Assassination Classroom -
To prevent ensuing chaos, however, Zeus long ago forbid the Olympians from ever doing so and promised severe punishment for any that do.
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Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The Brewmaster has employee regulations to prevent the collapse of SoulStorm Breweries, which forbid "tampering with the main boiler", "following mudokon terrorists", "entering shrykull portals" and "criticizing the full, rich flavor of SoulStorm™ brew".
Cite this Source
Prevent and Forbid. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 16, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/forbid/prevent
Forbid & Prevent. N.p., 2016. Web. 16 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/forbid/prevent>.
Prevent or Forbid. 2016. Accessed August 16, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/forbid/prevent.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "forbid" and "prevent" have occurred on timeline