forbidding

Etymology

adj

1. Appearing to be threatening, unfriendly or potentially unpleasant.
   The writer of the “blank” letter begins fluently with the date and “Dear Mary,” and then sits and chews his penholder or makes little dots and squares and circles on the blotter—utterly unable to attack the cold, forbidding blankness of that first page. 1922, Emily Post, chapter 28, in Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics, and at Home, New York: Funk & Wagnalls, published 1923, page 498
   Its forbidding brick and concrete exterior looms over a vast, windswept brick plaza in a style architectural critics, not without admiration, call “The New Brutalism.” 10 January 1988, “If You Can’t Fight City Hall, Here’s a Different Idea: Sell It”, in The New York Times

verb

1. present participle and gerund of forbid

noun

1. The act by which something is forbidden; a prohibition.
   1920, St. John G. Ervine, The Foolish Lovers, London: W. Collins & Sons, Chapter 3, VIII, p. 228, All law was composed of hindrances and obstacles and forbiddings, and therefore he was entirely opposed to Law.