Definition of "haram"

In case of necessity it is permissible to change one's madhhab or to do a few things according to another madhhab. It is haram to cheat in order to omit a fard or commit a haram.

2003, M. Sıddık Gümüş, Advice For The Muslim, page 258

In Arabic, haram is the noun derived from the verb hrm, the opposite of what it allowed.

2012, Manal Hamzeh, Pedagogies of Deveiling: Muslim Girls and the Hijab Discourse, page 82

I can’t speak about sex with my friends in Arabic. The words are too heavy and culturally loaded. It all sounds haram (sinful).

2005, Anoushiravan Ehteshami, Globalization and Geopolitics in the Middle East: Old Games, New Rules‎, Taylor & Francis e-Library, page 135

[…] collateral assets must not be debt, cash or prohibited as haram (sinful activity) and must not be associated in any way with unethical or exploitative operations or with speculation and uncertainty (gharar) […]

2007, Andreas Jobst, The Economics of Islamic Finance and Securitization‎

A year ago, the Party didn't even exist; some Salafi preachers had deemed democracy haram—forbidden under Islamic law.

2012 April 30, Wendell Steavenson, “Radicals Rising”, in The New Yorker