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to prohibit, forbid, or bar; interdict:
to ban nuclear weapons; The dictator banned all newspapers and books that criticized his regime.
Archaic.

to pronounce an ecclesiastical curse upon.
to curse; execrate.

the act of prohibiting by law; interdiction.
informal denunciation or prohibition, as by public opinion:
society’s ban on racial discrimination.
Law.

a proclamation.
a public condemnation.

Ecclesiastical. a formal condemnation; excommunication.
a malediction; curse.
Contemporary Examples

Female circumcision should be banned, and coercive population control jettisoned.
Hillary’s New Health Crusade Michelle Goldberg January 7, 2010

Citing an unnamed source, Galeazzi says Scola was banned because of “ancient jealousies and rivalries.”
Conspiracy Theories Behind Pope Francis’s Election Barbie Latza Nadeau March 13, 2013

But otherwise he supported many of the coercive approaches that Obama has banned.
The Real Story Behind the CIA’s Torture Policy Scott Horton June 14, 2009

Unveiled women are banned from entering state buildings; teen-age girls are obliged to come to school with their hair covered.
Terror at the Beach Anna Nemtsova September 29, 2011

Mississippi just banned abortions after 20 weeks, with no exceptions.
Mississippi, Get Over Your Abortion Fixation Sally Kohn April 1, 2014

Historical Examples

Bache tells us that pismire was also banned, antmire being substituted for it.
The American Language Henry L. Mencken

He banned the obtruding priest by name and all his accomplices.
Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln Charles L. Marson

Martial law was imposed and Solidarity was banned in 1982 after dramatic confrontations at the Gdansk shipyards.
The Civilization of Illiteracy Mihai Nadin

I’m so sick of hearing that man’s name that I could wish it banned.
Mixed Faces Roy Norton

These items are banned from carriage to China in British flag vessels.
East-West Trade Trends Harold E. Stassen

verb bans, banning, banned
(transitive) to prohibit, esp officially, from action, display, entrance, sale, etc; forbid: to ban a book, to ban smoking
(transitive) (formerly in South Africa) to place (a person suspected of illegal political activity) under a government order restricting his movement and his contact with other people
(archaic) to curse
noun
an official prohibition or interdiction
(law) an official proclamation or public notice, esp of prohibition
a public proclamation or edict, esp of outlawry
(archaic) public censure or condemnation
(archaic) a curse; imprecation
noun
(in feudal England) the summoning of vassals to perform their military obligations
noun (pl) bani (ˈbɑːnɪ)
a monetary unit of Romania and Moldova worth one hundredth of a leu
v.

Old English bannan “to summon, command, proclaim,” from Proto-Germanic *bannan “proclaim, command, forbid” (cf. Old High German bannan “to command or forbid under threat of punishment,” German bannen “banish, expel, curse”), originally “to speak publicly,” from PIE root *bha- (2) “to speak” (cf. Old Irish bann “law,” Armenian ban “word;” see fame (n.)).

Main modern sense of “to prohibit” (late 14c.) is from Old Norse cognate banna “to curse, prohibit,” and probably in part from Old French ban, which meant “outlawry, banishment,” among other things (see banal) and was a borrowing from Germanic. The sense evolution in Germanic was from “speak” to “proclaim a threat” to (in Norse, German, etc.) “curse.”

The Germanic root, borrowed in Latin and French, has been productive, e.g. banish, bandit, contraband, etc. Related: Banned; banning. Banned in Boston dates from 1920s, in allusion to the excessive zeal and power of that city’s Watch and Ward Society.
n.

“edict of prohibition,” c.1300, “proclamation or edict of an overlord,” from Old English (ge)bann “proclamation, summons, command” and Old French ban, both from Germanic; see ban (v.).

“governor of Croatia,” from Serbo-Croatian ban “lord, master, ruler,” from Persian ban “prince, lord, chief, governor,” related to Sanskrit pati “guards, protects.” Hence banat “district governed by a ban,” with Latinate suffix -atus. The Persian word got into Slavic perhaps via the Avars.