forbode

F4O1R1B3O1D2E1

noun

A forbidding, a prohibition; a command forbidding a thing.

“God's/The Lord's forbode”

OriginMiddle English forbode ← Old English forbod ← Proto-Germanic *frabudą →
Scrabble 13
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Meanings

forbode1

nounforbode (plural forbodes)

plural forbodes · alternative forbod

  1. archaicA forbidding, a prohibition; a command forbidding a thing.

    God's/The Lord's forbode

    3 more examples

    So Moses himself explaineth it in the words here folowing, and in v. 13. 22. 27. commandements ]or, charges: meaning prohibitions, or forbodes. For God commandeth both to eschew evil, and to doe good.

    1621, Henry Ainsworth, Annotations Upon the First Book of Moses, Called Genesis, source: Leviticus, Ch. IIII

    Thus Cloudesle cleft the apple in two, That many a man might see; "Over God's forbode," said the king, "That thou shoot at me!"

    1894, Reginald Brimley Johnson, Popular British Ballads, Ancient and Modern, page 142

    FIRST SHEPHERD. God's forbode thou spare't and thou drink every deal.⁷ ⁷ God's forbode ... deal God forbid (literally "God's forbidding") that you refrain from drinking even if you drink it all.

    2012, The Broadview Anthology of Medieval Drama, The Towneley Plays: The First Shepherds' Play (translated from Middle English into English), page 153

forbode2

verb
  1. obsoletepastobsolete simple past of forbid.

forbode3

verbforbode (third-person singular simple present forbodes, present participle forboding, simple past and past participle forboded)

present singular third person forbodes · participle present forboding · participle past forboded · past forboded

  1. alternativeAlternative form of forebode.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
prohibitionproscription

Origin

forbode · noun

  1. Proto-Indo-European*bʰewdʰ-“to be awake, fully perceive”
  2. Proto-Germanic*frabudą“prohibition”
  3. Old Englishforbod“a forbidding, prohibition”
  4. Middle Englishforbode
  5. Englishforbode

From Middle English forbode, forbod, from Old English forbod (“a forbidding, prohibition”), from Proto-Germanic *frabudą (“prohibition”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewdʰ- (“to be awake, fully perceive”), equivalent to for- + bode. Cognate with Dutch verbod, German Verbot, Danish forbud, Swedish förbud. More at forbid.

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

forbode · verb

  1. Old Englishforbēad
  2. Middle English[Term?]
  3. Englishforbode

From Middle English [Term?], from Old English forbēad/forbudon, past tense forms of forbēodan (“to forbid”). More at forbid.

More words from Middle English, Old English

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

forbode. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forbode

MLA

“forbode.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forbode. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “forbode,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forbode.

Source: forbode on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.