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Definition of "debar" [de•bar]

  • To exclude or shut out; bar. (verb-transitive)
  • To forbid, hinder, or prevent. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "debar" in a sentence
  • "Israelites with a profound reverence for holy things; and nothing was more suited to this purpose than to debar from the tabernacle all who were polluted by any kind of uncleanness, ceremonial as well as natural, mental as well as physical."
  • "Beware lest any name debar thee from God, the Creator of earth and heaven."
  • "One EPA official a few years back threatened to "debar" BP from government contracts if it didn't submit to tougher regulation."