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  1. inhibit love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. v. To hold back; restrain. See Synonyms at restrain.
  2. v. To prohibit; forbid.
  3. v. Psychology To suppress or restrain (behavior, an impulse, or a desire) consciously or unconsciously.
  4. v. Chemistry To prevent or decrease the rate of (a reaction).
  5. v. Biology To decrease, limit, or block the action or function of (an enzyme or organ, for example).

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. To hold back; hinder by obstruction or restriction; check or repress.
  2. To forbid; prohibit; interdict.

Wiktionary

  1. v. to hinder; to restrain

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. v. To check; to hold back; to restrain; to hinder.
  2. v. To forbid; to prohibit; to interdict.
  3. v. (Chem., Biochem.) To cause the rate of (a chemical or biochemical reaction) to proceed slower, or to halt.
  4. v. To restrain (a behavior) by a mechanism involving conscious or unconscious motivations.

WordNet 3.0

  1. v. control and refrain from showing; of emotions, desires, impulses, or behavior
  2. v. limit the range or extent of
  3. v. limit, block, or decrease the action or function of
  4. v. to put down by force or authority

Etymologies

  1. From Latin inhibitus, perfect passive participle of inhibeō ("I hold in, check, restrain"), from in ("in, at, on"), + habeō ("I have, hold, keep"). (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English inhibiten, to forbid, from Latin inhibēre, inhibit-, to restrain, forbid : in-, in; see in-2 + habēre, to hold; see ghabh- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “Therefore he decides that although the First Amendment forbids Congress to abridge political speech, that proscription is somehow superseded by Congress's right to, in Breyer's words, "inhibit" some "speech opportunities" in the name of fine-tuning "a democratic conversation.”

    Newsweek: Mr. Breyer's 'Modesty'

  • “As used herein, "inhibit" or "treat" or "treatment" includes a postponement of development of the symptoms associated with autoimmune disease or pathogen-induced immunopathology and/or”

    FreshPatents.com: Notable Patent Applications - 07/22/2010

  • “It added that the tie-up would have the potential to 'inhibit' the editorial and scheduling flexibility of both the BBC and ITV network.”

    Home | Mail Online

  • “So I'm at a loss at how this legislation would "inhibit" anybody's "religious freedom". tolkien_fan73 Says: paleolib: I had the same thought:”

    Think Progress

  • “- This is from a survey conducted in the UK and reported on in the Bookseller: The lack of devices from Amazon and Apple could "inhibit" the UK's e-book market "in the short term", as people hold out for products by preferred manufacturers, a YouGov survey has concluded.”

    Megite Technology News: What's Happening Right Now

  • “We have been hexed to devalue, negatively connote, discredit, caution against, inhibit, prohibit, and even become scared and fearful of allowing spirit to express itself through our whole body, mind, heart, and soul.”

    Simon & Schuster: The Bushman Way of Tracking God

  • “If we're not conscious of the values of our conditioned self-structure, they are going to inhibit our capacity to be a truly awake individual.”

    The Huffington Post: Andrew Z. Cohen: Shining Light On Your Unconscious Values

  • “According to the FDA, in 2009 more than 5 million prescriptions were filled for bisphosphonates, which inhibit bone loss.”

    USA Today: FDA to review safety of osteoporosis drugs

  • “Japan posted a $10.66 billion trade deficit in May, the biggest shortfall in nearly 2½ years, as the impact of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami continues to inhibit an economic recovery.”

    The Wall Street Journal: What's News—

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synonyms (7)

Words with the same meaning

  1. check
  1. restrain
  1. hinder
  1. forbid
  1. prohibit
  1. interdict
  1. prevent

hypernyms (9)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. limit
  1. throttle
  1. trammel
  1. restrain
  1. bound
  1. restrict
  1. confine
  1. impede
  1. hinder

same context (19)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. acinar
  2. antitumour
  3. Hampton
  1. antigen-specific
  2. cell
  3. commonmode
  1. fibroblast
  2. agonal
  3. calves'
  1. effector
  2. ·)*
  3. clonal
  1. peroxisome
  2. endometrial
  3. staphylococcal
  1. 'cuz
  2. inducible
  3. Dt
  1. newsies

rhymes (1)

Words with the same terminal sound

  1. prohibit

reverse dictionary (59)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. inhibitory
  2. inhibitory nerves
  3. depressomotor
  4. thermo-inhibitory
  5. anti-autolysin
  6. antichymosin
  7. antiferment
  8. anti-isolysin
  9. antilactase
  10. antisteapsin
  11. algicide
  1. bilge keel
  2. alendronate
  3. mitomycin
  4. nitrofuran
  5. nonslip
  6. nonskid
  7. SSRI
  8. preservative
  9. venlafaxine
  10. sacrificial anode
  11. non-nucleoside
  1. ice-minus
  2. bupropion
  3. thyrocalcitonin
  4. gossypol
  5. agaric
  6. antibiotic
  7. herbicide
  8. deactivate
  9. nefazodone
  10. blanket
  11. constrain
  1. intimidate
  2. suppress
  3. poison
  4. squelch
  5. strangle
  6. cytotoxic drug
  7. MAOI
  8. monoamine oxidase inhibitor
  9. oral contraceptive
  10. oral contraceptive pill
  11. pill
  1. anovulant
  2. anovulatory drug
  3. behavior modification
  4. behavior therapy
  5. birth control pill
  6. blocker
  7. blocking agent
  8. calcitonin
  9. castration
  10. contraceptive pill
  11. rofecoxib
  1. anticomplement
  2. antilactoserum
  3. antiprecipitin
  4. antitoxic

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‘inhibit’ has been looked up 2559 times, loved by 2 people, added to 28 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 12.