HOW TO PRONOUNCE
taboo
/tæˈbu/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 0:47
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What does taboo mean?
noun
- An inhibition or ban that results from social custom or emotional aversion.
- Something which may not be used, approached or mentioned because it is sacred.
adjective
- Excluded or forbidden from use, approach or mention.
More meanings (4)
adjective
- Culturally forbidden.
verb
- To mark as taboo.
- To ban or prohibit.
- To avoid.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/tæˈbu/
CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
But the other great suppression in our schools, the suppression of the subject of sex, is a case of taboo.
That is, very few people will actually starve to death, die of thirst or keep awake indefinitely, despite any convention or taboo.
More book examples (3)
Puritanic and academic taboo of sex in education and religion is as disastrous to human welfare as prostitution or the venereal scourges.
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.
The voice of their order, the first taboo of their freemasonry, is firmly against making a sentimental debauch of the serious business of marriage.