forbidden fruit

/ˈfɔrbɪdən frut/

Other forms: forbidden fruits

If you're studying for a big test, video games might feel like forbidden fruit. Forbidden fruit is something that is very tempting but that you are trying to avoid.

Something that's not allowed can be especially appealing — that's when it becomes forbidden fruit. Teenagers who are warned not to leave the house after 9 p.m. might consider sneaking out to be forbidden fruit, and little kids are likely to long for the forbidden fruit of the sharp scissors they're not supposed to touch. The expression comes from the Garden of Eden story in the Bible, in which Adam and Eve eat the fruit they've been forbidden by God to taste.

Definitions of forbidden fruit

1. noun

   originally an apple from the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden; it is now used to refer to anything that is tempting but dangerous (as sexuality)
   type of:

   enticement, temptation

   something that seduces or has the quality to seduce