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Prohibitionist

Definition: Prohibitionist

Prohibitionist

Noun

1. A reformer who opposes the use of intoxicating beverages.

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "prohibitionist" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1889. (references)

 

Specialty Definition: Prohibition

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

For the judicial writ of prohibition, see Prohibition (writ).

Prohibition was the period between 1919 and 1933 in the United States, when the manufacture, purchase, transportation, import, export, and sale of alcoholic beverages was prohibited by the Volstead Act (which became law on January 16, 1920), enforcing Amendment 18 to the United States Constitution (which became law on January 16, 1919). It was repealed in 1933 by Amendment 21. Prohibition went into effect on January 16, 1920, was backed up by enforcement legislation with the October 28, 1920 passage of the Volstead Act and was finally abolished by passage of the Blaine Act on February 17, 1933.


Prohibition Agents destroying barrels of alcohol

Prohibition also referred to that part of the Temperance movement which wanted alcohol made illegal. Advocates of prohibition were called Prohibitionists. They had some success even before national prohibition; in 1905 three American states had already outlawed alcohol, by 1912 it was up to 9 states, and by 1916, legal prohibition was already in effect in 26 of the 48 states. After the repeal of the national law some states continued to enforce prohibition laws; Oklahoma, Kansas, and Mississippi were still "dry" in 1948. Mississippi, which had made alcohol illegal in 1907, was the last state to repeal prohibition, in 1966. While there are still some dry counties and communities in the United States, in practice this now means little more than that people wishing to buy alcohol must drive some moderate distance to do so.

While national Prohibition did much to reduce the consumption of alcoholic beverages by Americans, they were still widely available at speakeasies and other underground drinking establishments, and many people kept private bars to serve their guests. Even many prominent citizens and politicians later admitted to having alcohol during Prohibition. This dichotomy between legality and actual practice led to widespread disdain for authorities, who were all assumed to be hypocrites. Mockery took many forms, including the popular Keystone Kops films. There were exceptions to this public scorn such as the activities of Eliot Ness and his elite team of Treasury Agents nicknamed The Untouchables and the New York City prohibition agent team of Izzy Einstein and Moe Smith, known collectively as simply Izzy and Moe. For these exceptions, Ness' honesty and flair for public relations and Izzy and Moe's more eccentric methods attracted considerable media attention.

It also presented lucrative opportunities for organized crime to take over the importation ("bootlegging"), manufacture and distribution of alcoholic beverages. Al Capone, one of the most famous bootleggers of them all, built his criminal empire largely on profits from illegal alcohol.

With alcohol production largely in the hands of criminals and unregulated clandestine home manufacturers, the quality of the product varied widely. There were many cases of people going blind or suffering from brain damage after drinking "bathtub gin" made with industrial alcohol or various poisonous chemicals.

On such points as these the modern "War on Drugs" has been compared to Prohibition. Critics of the drug war argue that when you attempt to prohibit an item which people want you can never really get rid of it, so you only make it more profitable while creating crime and contempt for law-enforcement organizations. There is wide disagreement as to the validity of this argument.

The term prohibition is also used to refer to other laws banning the sale and consumption of alcohol, in particular, local laws that have the same effect. The 21st amendment, which repealed nationwide prohibition, explicitly gives states the right to restrict or ban the purchase and sale of alcohol; this has led to a patchwork of laws, in which alcohol may be legally sold in some but not all towns or counties within a state.

See also United States Prohibition Party, Temperance movement, Near beer, cocktail

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Prohibition."

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Synonym: Prohibitionist

Synonym: dry (n). (additional references)
Synonyms by domain: abstinent (medicine, social sciences), anti-alcoholic (medicine, social sciences).

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Synonyms within Context: Prohibitionist

ContextSynonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).

Sobriety

Water-drinker; hydropot; prohibitionist; teetotaler, teetotalist; abstainer, Good Templar, band of hope.

Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

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Crosswords: Prohibitionist

English words defined with "prohibitionist": Carry Amelia Moore Nation, Carry Nationnation. (references)

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Commercial Usage: Prohibitionist

DomainTitle

Books

  • Carry A. Nation: Saloon Smasher and Prohibitionist (Historical American Biographies) (reference)

    (more book examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Photo Album: Prohibitionist

ThumbnailDescription & CreditThumbnailDescription & Credit

Martyrs to duty. The rabid prohibitionist who has just had a bottle of old crow forced upon him ... / Herbert Johnson. Credit: Library of Congress.

"Solid South" tiger standing over "the spoils" dead deer while "mugwump" donkey, "labor vote" ox, and "prohibitionist" bird look on. Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

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Usage Frequency: Prohibitionist

"Prohibitionist" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Prohibitionist" is used about 4 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)
Parts of SpeechPercentUsage per
100 Million Words
Rank in English
Noun (singular)100%4175,879

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Expression: Prohibitionist

Hypenated Usage

Ending with "prohibitionist": anti-prohibitionist.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translation: Prohibitionist

Language Translations for "prohibitionist"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.

Bulgarian 

  

привърженик на сухия режим (dry, pussyfoot). (various references)

   

French

  

antialcoolique. (various references)

   

German

  

Alkoholgegner (abstinent, anti-alcoholic). (various references)

   

Greek 

  

υπέρ τησ απαγόρευσησ μεθυστικών ποτών. (various references)

   

Hungarian

  

szesztilalom híve (dry). (various references)

   

Manx

  

tarmestee, tarmestagh (frustrating, prohibitive, proscriptive), chirrym (arid, dry, dry-bulb, sapless, waterless). (various references)

   

Pig Latin

  

ohibitionistpray.(various references)

   

Portuguese

  

proibicionista, partidário da lei seca. (various references)

   

Russian 

  

прогибиционист. (various references)

   

Spanish

  

prohibicionista (dry). (various references)

   

Swedish

  

förbudsanhängare. (various references)

   

Turkish

  

içki yasağı yanlısı. (various references)

   

Ukrainian

  

прогібіціоніст. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Derivations: Prohibitionist

Derivations

Words beginning with "prohibitionist": prohibitionists. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Rhyming with "Prohibitionist"

Words rhyming with "prohibitionist" (pronounced 'Pro`hi*bi"tion*ist'): Abacist, Abaist, Abiogenist, Abolitionist, Abortionist, Absist, Abstractionist, Academist, Accompanist, Accordionist, Acephalist, Acolothist, Acolythist, Acosmist, Acquist, Actualist, Adeptist, Adiaphorist, Adonist, Adoptionist, Adventist, Aerologist, Aeroplanist, Affectationist, Agamist, Agist, Agonist, Agrammatist, Agricolist, Agriculturalist, Agriculturist, Agriologist, Agronomist, Agrostologist, Aladinist, Alarmist, Alchemist, Alcoranist, Algebraist, Algologist, Alienist, Alkoranist, Allegorist, Allodialist, Allopathist, Alopecist, Alpinist, Altarist, Altruist, Ambitionist. (additional references)

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Anagrams: Prohibitionist

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Words within the letters "b-h-i-i-i-i-n-o-o-p-r-s-t-t"

-2 letters: prohibitions.

-3 letters: prohibition.

-4 letters: inhibitors.

-5 letters: inhibitor, poortiths, prohibits, sortition.

 Words containing the letters "b-h-i-i-i-i-n-o-o-p-r-s-t-t"
 

+1 letter: prohibitionists.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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INDEX

1. Definition
2. Synonyms
3. Crosswords
4. Usage: Commercial
5. Images: Photo Album
6. Usage Frequency
7. Expressions
8. Translations: Modern
9. Derivations
10. Rhymes
11. Anagrams
12. Bibliography


  

Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.