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APG.American
Pronunciation Guide
HOW TO PRONOUNCE

ban

/bæn/

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American Pronunciation Guide · 0:39
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What does ban mean?

verb

  1. To prohibit; to interdict; to proscribe; to forbid or block from participation.
  2. To anathematize; to pronounce an ecclesiastical curse upon; to place under a ban.
  3. To curse; to execrate.
More meanings (13)

verb

  1. To curse; to utter curses or maledictions.
  2. (obsolete) To summon; to call out.

noun

  1. A prohibition.
  2. A public proclamation or edict; also, a summons by public proclamation, and in early use especially a summons to arms.
  3. The gathering of the (French) king’s vassals for war; the whole body of vassals assembled this way, or liable to be summoned; originally the same as arriere-ban, but distinct since the 16th century, following French usage—see arriere-ban.
  4. A pecuniary mulct or penalty laid upon a delinquent for offending against a ban, such as a mulct paid to a bishop by one guilty of sacrilege or other crimes.
  5. A subdivision of currency, equal to one hundredth of a Romanian leu.
  6. A subdivision of currency, equal to one hundredth of a Moldovan leu.
  7. A unit measuring information or entropy based on base-ten logarithms, rather than the base-two logarithms that define the bit.
  8. A title used in several states in central and south-eastern Europe between the 7th century and the 20th century.
  9. Initialism of British Approved Name.
  10. (obsolete) A curse or anathema.

proper noun

  1. A surname.
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Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/bæn/

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

One could not see the multitudes banked together beyond the ban, but they were there, just the same.
Mark TwainA Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's CourtProject Gutenberg ebook #86
He presently fell under the ban of the Church, through which he lost alike his liberty and the means of pursuing investigation.
John M. (John Mackenzie) BaconThe Dominion of the Air: The Story of Aerial NavigationProject Gutenberg ebook #861
More book examples (3)
Thar Ban, jed among the hordes of Torquas, rode swiftly across the ochre vegetation of the dead sea-bottom toward the ruins of ancient Aaanthor.
Edgar Rice BurroughsThuvia, maid of MarsProject Gutenberg ebook #72
Copernicus, gentle, charitable, pious, one of the noblest gifts of God to religion as well as to science, was evidently still under the ban.
Andrew Dickson WhiteHistory of the Warfare of Science with Theology in ChristendomProject Gutenberg ebook #505
Maximilian conducted the war as executor of the ban of the empire, and Tilly, who commanded the army of execution, was in the Bavarian service.
Friedrich SchillerThe History of the Thirty Years' WarTranslated by A. J. W. (Alexander James William) MorrisonProject Gutenberg ebook #566