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🚫 A legal ban 🍸 Alcohol ban period
prohibition

prohibition

14 5.5
A period, especially in the United States from 1920 to 1933, when making, selling, and moving alcoholic drinks was illegal
  • noun
  • /ˌproʊɪˈbɪʃən/
  • US
translation icon : ley seca
  • The prohibition era in the United States lasted from 1920 to 1933, banning the sale of alcohol.
  • alcohol prohibition
  • prohibition era
  • prohibition movement

Examples

  • A state constable and a federal prohibition agent obtained a state warrant to search the suspect's home for illegal liquor.

    Academic text (2018)

  • The legislative history of the NFA shows that the purpose of the statute was to stem Prohibition-era violence.

    Academic text (2016)

  • Why bother now that prohibition is almost over?

    Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

  • I mean, they said there were a bunch of rooms down here left over from prohibition.

    Night of the Demons (2009)

  • Along with alcohol, these substances came under federal prohibition early in this century.

    Academic text (1993)

  • I will never get over the fact that the prohibition of alcohol became a constitutional amendment.

    Blog text (16)

  • During prohibition, these trails were used to transport alcohol made from sugarcane.

    Arthur the King (2024)

  • Prohibition meant you couldn't get a drink... ...unless you knew a speakeasy like this one.

    Bloodhounds of Broadway (1989)

  • The misguided and counterproductive policy of prohibition has failed; the "unintended" consequences are disastrous.

    Blog text (14)

  • In 1888, a local chapter was formed in Savannah to assist with the crusade for temperance and prohibition.

    Academic text (2009)

Synonyms

bar
vsprohibition
  • Formal
335 6.1

An official rule that prevents someone from doing something

refers specifically to the alcohol ban or its legal enactment rather than any rule
Prohibition era
vsprohibition
  • US
3 7.4

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

is the legal rule that created the ban rather than the historical time period
Eighteenth Amendment
vsprohibition
  • Formal
6.6

A 1920 change to the U.S. Constitution that banned making and selling alcohol and was repealed in 1933

is broader, covering the whole banned period and related laws not just the amendment

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

Formationally clear as a nominalization, but the specialized historical sense 'the Prohibition' (period when alcohol was banned) is a metonymic extension requiring cultural knowledge.

Etymology

Prohibition as a historical period takes its name from the same root because it was a time when laws 'held away' or banned alcohol in the United States from 1920 to 1933. That is why people call that era Prohibition, since the main idea was making alcohol illegal.