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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.
Examples of embargo in a Sentence
David Shortell, Bon Appetit Magazine, 15 July 2025
Despite the fact that the game releases today at the same time as this review embargo, there are still lots of open questions though, such as what exactly is enhanced in this Enhanced Edition and how does the mod support work for the PC version.
—David Jagneaux, Forbes.com, 15 July 2025
Abid Rahman, HollywoodReporter, 22 July 2025
Sanctions mean that the product is embargoed in one of the industry’s biggest markets, which accounts for about one-third of global rum sales.
—Kevin Rozario, Forbes.com, 18 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for embargo
Cite this Entry
“Embargo.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/embargo. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLegal Definition
embargo
1 of 2 noun
embargo
2 of 2 transitive verbNoun
Spanish, from embargar to bar
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