Definition of "taboo"

It is true indeed that a taboo - in order to be a proper taboo - must not rest in the general mind on argument or reason.

1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., published 1921, page 194

So among the Alfoors of the island of Buru it is taboo to mention the names of parents and parents-in-law, or even to speak of common objects by words which resemble these names in sound.

1922, James Frazer, The Golden Bough

The sharp differentiation of the sexes in our culture was shaped most probably by monogamy and monosexuality and their tabus.

1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 213

For a structuralist like Edmund Leach, the structure is the meaning. Genesis, for example, is about incest taboos; all the rest is noise and mystification.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light:Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, page 12

Now, we assume that people who check their watches at dinner are probably trying to avoid pulling out their phones, which would be ruder and more disruptive. In other words, mass adoption killed the taboo.

2023 June 6, Kevin Roose, “Why I Can’t Bet Against Apple’s Mixed-Reality Prowess”, in The New York Times‎