phrase
Forbidden Fruit
Something tempting precisely because it is off-limits.
Origin
In Genesis, Adam and Eve are told they may eat from any tree in Eden except the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. They eat. They are expelled. The 'fruit' is unnamed in the text โ the apple is a later artistic convention.
Modern usage
Used for anything desirable mostly because forbidden โ a banned book, a rival's partner, a substance you swore off.
In the wild
Banning the show only made it forbidden fruit.โ common usage
Tags
temptation
transgression