taboo

views updated

ta·boo / təˈboō; ta-/ (also ta·bu) • n. (pl. -boos also -bus / təˈboōz/ ) a social or religious custom prohibiting or restricting a particular practice or forbidding association with a particular person, place, or thing.• adj. prohibited or restricted by social custom: sex was a taboo subject. ∎  designated as sacred and prohibited: the burial ground was seen as a taboo place.• v. (-boos, -booed / -ˈboōd/ or -bus, -bued) [tr.] place under such prohibition: traditional societies taboo female handling of food during this period.

More From encyclopedia.com