Prohibit

To prohibit something is to make a proclamation, edict or law that a certain activity should not be undertaken. This may range from a simple statement by parents that their children should not see a particular friend because of undesirable characteristics to commandments from God which for example prohibit children marrying their parents or working on the sabbath.

During the 1920s the American government imposed a ban on the manufacture and sale of alcohol. This was known as Prohibition.