taboo
38
6.4
- noun
- /təˈbu/
:
tabú
- In some cultures, discussing mental health is considered a taboo topic.
- break a taboo
- incest taboo
- food taboos
What's the, what's the next great taboo for Wilfred Riley to smash through?
- What's the, what's the next great taboo for Wilfred Riley to smash through?
- It was this sort of taboo subject never to be addressed.
- I mean, it is the taboo, the Republican taboo.
- But I'm curious what taboos you think we should have talked about.
- I had found the only taboo we hadn't broken yet.
- You know, just there's a list of, of taboos and most of them are killing offenses.
- We in the West have made death a taboo subject.
- It's it's not, it's the things they're telling us are taboos are not really taboos.
- The first advantage is like, I come from a culture that it's a taboo to violate a woman.
Examples
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Money is a little bit of a taboo subject.
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It's it's something that nobody wants to discuss and it is a taboo in this country.
-
The mention of intimate details about disability is generally considered to be taboo in Western culture.
Academic text (2012) -
Could the last workplace taboo be about to go mainstream?
Academic text (2015) -
Over time, the expression of what had previously been viewed as "taboo" became a group norm.
Academic text (1990) -
But we do respect the incest taboo.
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It was this sort of taboo subject never to be addressed.
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Society's taboos are something we have to deal with rather a lot in this profession.
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Even as tattooing becomes more prevalent in the USA, there is still a persistent taboo on tattoos.
Academic text (2012) -
I think it takes a brave voice to confront these kinds of taboos in life like infidelity.
Synonyms
184
6.3
A thing or action that people say is not allowed
48
4.4
An official rule that stops people from doing something
1
9.9
A rule from religion or community that forbids certain actions and places
How Forbidden
Surface Forms
Etymology
Taboo comes from a Polynesian word tapu that meant 'forbidden' or 'sacred', a word sailors heard in places like Tonga and Tahiti and brought into English. So a taboo is a social rule that says something is not allowed.