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When Should You Use embargo?
English speakers got embargo—both the word and the concept, it seems—from the Spanish in the early 17th century. The word first referred specifically to a government order prohibiting commercial ships from entering or leaving that country’s ports. (The Spanish word comes from embargar, “to bar.”) By the middle of the 17th century embargo was being used more broadly to refer to any government order that limits trade in some way. Today, the word is applied more broadly still to refer to various prohibitions. Publishers, for example, often place an embargo on a book to prevent stores from selling it before its official release date. And in Jane Austen’s novel Persuasion, Anne Elliot says “I lay no embargo on anybody's words.” We feel similarly.
Synonyms
Examples of embargo in a Sentence
Missy Khamvongsa, Washington Post, 5 Apr. 2024
There were calls for a U.K. arms embargo on Israel even before the World Central Kitchen attack
In towns and cities across the U.K., protests have sprung up in recent weeks and months, outside factories where components for Israeli F-35 fighter jets are made.
—Lauren Frayer, NPR, 4 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for embargo 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'embargo.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near embargo
Cite this Entry
“Embargo.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/embargo. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationLegal Definition
embargo
1 of 2 noun
embargo
2 of 2 transitive verbNoun
Spanish, from embargar to bar
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