ban
- 1To officially forbid something or block someone from taking part in an activity.
The league voted to ban the player after repeated violations.
Several countries ban the import of certain hazardous chemicals.
UsageBan someone from + -ing: banned from driving. With a thing, no preposition: ban smoking.
Similarprohibit, forbid, outlaw, bar, suspend
Oppositeallow, permit, authorize, legalize
Note
Lord Byron's The Prisoner of Chillon (1816) shows an older turn, with something banned to a person: 'To whom the goodly earth and air / Are banned.'
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Lord Byron wrote The Prisoner of Chillon, first published in 1816. en.wikipedia.org
- The quoted words occur in the poem and illustrate something being banned to someone; the item quotes only the beginning of the second line. gutenberg.org
- 2An official order that forbids something.
The government imposed a ban on single-use plastics.
Voters debated whether to lift the ban on late-night trading.
UsageUse on: a ban on fireworks; you impose or lift a ban.
Similarprohibition, embargo, moratorium, bar
Note
Older English could also put a thing under ban, as Milton does in Paradise Lost (1667) with the sacred fruit forbidden even to touch.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- John Milton wrote Paradise Lost. gutenberg.org
- Paradise Lost was first published in 1667. wwwe.lib.cam.ac.uk
- Paradise Lost uses under ban about the sacred fruit being forbidden even to touch. en.wikisource.org
- 3To pronounce a formal church curse upon someone, placing them under an ecclesiastical ban.
Similarexcommunicate, anathematize
Less common meanings
- 4To curse someone or something, or to utter curses.
Note
A private curse rather than a church sentence, and often doubled for force. Hugh Latimer, in a letter to Henry VIII, warns against those who "curse and ban" all who gainsay their appetite. That pairing with curse is the easiest way to recognize it. Set beside the ecclesiastical curse, it is the same act stripped of office and open to anyone.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Hugh Latimer used the quoted wording about people who curse those who gainsay their appetite. reformationchurch.gospelstudies.org.uk
- The passage occurs in a letter to Henry VIII. reformationchurch.gospelstudies.org.uk
- 5A curse or anathema pronounced upon someone.
With Hecate's ban thrice blasted, thrice infected
c. 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”Note
The noun of cursing, now gone from ordinary English but alive in Shakespeare's Hamlet: "With Hecate's ban thrice blasted, thrice infected." Here the curse belongs to a goddess, not a bishop. A possessive naming who lays the curse is the shape to look for.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- William Shakespeare wrote Hamlet. gutenberg.org
- The quoted words occur in Hamlet, spoken by Lucianus in the play within the play. gutenberg.org
- Ban means a curse here, and Hecate is the goddess whose curse is invoked. shakespeare-navigators.ewu.edu
- 6To summon someone; to call out men for service.
Note
The oldest strand of the word, long out of use. Old English bannan meant to summon, command or proclaim, while the Old Norse banna that merged with it meant to prohibit or curse. Those two inheritances explain how one verb came both to call people in and to shut them out. In older texts it sits naturally beside the proclamation summoning men to arms.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- The summoning sense belongs to the word's Old English ancestry. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English bannan meant to summon, command or proclaim. en.wikipedia.org
- Old Norse banna meant to prohibit or curse and contributed to the English word's prohibitory meaning. en.wikipedia.org
- The older noun ban could denote a summons to arms. en.wikisource.org
- 7A title borne by rulers or provincial governors in several states of central and south-eastern Europe from the 7th to the 20th century.
- 8A public proclamation or edict, especially a summons calling subjects to assemble for war.
- 9A unit of money equal to one hundredth of a Romanian or Moldovan leu.
- 10A unit of information or entropy defined using base-ten logarithms, in contrast to the bit, which is defined using base-two logarithms.
- 11A monetary penalty levied on an offender for violating a ban, such as a fine paid to a bishop by one guilty of sacrilege.
- 12The gathering of the French king's vassals for war, or the whole body of vassals so assembled or liable to be summoned.
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Origin
English inherited ban from Middle English bannen, which could mean "to summon," "to banish," or "to curse." Bannen had two sources. One was Old English bannan, meaning "to summon, command, proclaim." The other was Old Norse banna, meaning "to prohibit" or "to curse." Both go back to Proto-Germanic *bannaną and, beyond it, to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to say." Dutch and German bannen and Swedish banna are cognates.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 9 facts
- English inherited ban from Middle English bannen, meaning to summon, banish, or curse. en.wiktionary.org
- Middle English bannen had both Old English and Old Norse sources. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English bannan meant to summon, command, or proclaim. en.wikipedia.org
- Old Norse banna meant to prohibit or curse. en.wikipedia.org
- Old English bannan and Old Norse banna both derive from Proto-Germanic *bannaną. en.wiktionary.org
- The Proto-Germanic word ultimately derives from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning to say. en.wiktionary.org
- Dutch bannen is a cognate of English ban. en.wiktionary.org
- German bannen is a cognate of English ban. en.wiktionary.org
- Swedish banna is a cognate of English ban. en.wiktionary.org