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Glite Dictionary
Prohibition

Prohibition

12 4.9
A period in the United States from 1920 to 1933 when making, selling, and moving alcohol was illegal
  • noun
  • /ˌproʊhɪˈbɪʃən/
  • US
translation icon : ley seca
  • The government imposed Prohibition in the 1920s, aiming to curb excessive drinking and its negative effects.
  • enforcement of Prohibition
  • Prohibition goes into effect

And believe it or not, they didn't drink as much when the Prohibition was lifted.

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Examples

  • Guests who wanted to circumvent the Prohibition laws managed to get their supply.

    Academic text (2009)

  • By creating black markets, prohibition can cause crime.

    Academic text (2003)

  • You know, around the same time of Prohibition, we had a couple world wars, we had the Great Depression.

  • Instead of improving the morality of the country, as one might have expected, Prohibition instead made it feel OK for people to break the law.

  • And believe it or not, they didn't drink as much when the Prohibition was lifted.

    Shawn Ryan Show

  • Prohibition eliminated that market and consequently the area's commercial crawfish industries in the 1920s.

    Academic text (2013)

  • During Prohibition, many speakeasies opened in secret to serve alcoholic drinks.

  • Prohibition fundamentally changed American society by creating a black market for alcohol.

Synonyms

prohibition
vsProhibition
  • US
14 5.5

A period, especially in the United States from 1920 to 1933, when making, selling, and moving alcoholic drinks was illegal

focuses only on the historical period rather than the law
Prohibition era
vsProhibition
  • US
3 7.4

A time in the United States from 1920 to 1933 when alcohol was illegal

is the shorter term used for that same historical period

Antonyms

legalization
  • US
52 4.1

Making something allowed by law

Compounds

Prohibition era
  • US
3 7.4

A time in the United States from 1920 to 1933 when alcohol was illegal

Prohibition Party
  • US
8.1

A former political party in the United States that wanted to ban alcohol

Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
4.9

An international group that helps countries destroy chemical weapons and checks they do not make or use them

writ of prohibition
  • Formal
9.9

An order from a higher court that stops a lower court from hearing a case outside its power

Surface Forms

Prohibition singular
Prohibitions plural

Morphology

Prohibition = prohibit (semi-transparent) = prohibit + ion

Standard nominalization from the verb 'prohibit' meaning 'the act or result of prohibiting', which is directly inferable from the base.

Etymology

Prohibition comes from Latin parts pro- 'away' and hibere 'hold', so the word means 'to hold back'. That's why the U.S. Prohibition (1920–1933) was the name for the time when the law 'held back' alcohol by banning its sale, production, and transport.