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Interdict and interdiction are used for very serious prohibitions—more serious than, say, a professor telling the class that texting is forbidden during lectures. During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, an interdict was a sentence imposed by the powerful Catholic Church forbidding a person or place, and sometimes even an entire country, from receiving church privileges or participating in church functions. Interdict now often means "cut off" in a physically forceful way as well; interdictions are usually targeted at either arms supplies or illegal drug shipments.
Examples of interdict in a Sentence
Brendan Le, Peoplemag, 9 May 2024
Environmental and community groups in South Africa's Eastern Cape province won an urgent interdict to stop the surveys in December last year and are now asking the court to permanently halt the operations.
—Mogomotsi Magome, ajc, 2 June 2022
Henry Freedland, Harpers Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025
But the lethal force has raised several legal questions, as past administrations have relied on law enforcement to interdict drug shipments.
—Alexandra Hutzler, ABC News, 24 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for interdict
Cite this Entry
“Interdict.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/interdict. Accessed 3 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
interdict
1 of 2 noun
interdict
2 of 2 verb
Medical Definition
interdict
noun
Legal Definition
interdict
1 of 2 noun
interdict
2 of 2 transitive verb
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