Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To hold back; restrain: synonym: restrain.
  • transitive verb To cause (a person) to behave in a restrained or self-conscious way.
  • transitive verb Psychology To suppress or restrain (behavior, an impulse, or a desire) consciously or unconsciously.
  • transitive verb Chemistry To prevent or decrease the rate of (a reaction).
  • transitive verb Biology To decrease, limit, or block the action or function of (an enzyme or organ, for example).
  • transitive verb To prohibit (an ecclesiastic) from performing clerical duties.

from The Century Dictionary.

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

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

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

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb to hinder; to restrain

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb control and refrain from showing; of emotions, desires, impulses, or behavior
  • verb limit the range or extent of
  • verb limit, block, or decrease the action or function of
  • verb to put down by force or authority

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English inhibiten, to forbid, from Latin inhibēre, inhibit-, to restrain, forbid : in-, in; see in– + habēre, to hold; see ghabh- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin inhibitus, perfect passive participle of inhibeō ("I hold in, check, restrain"), from in ("in, at, on"), + habeō ("I have, hold, keep").

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decides that although the First Amendment forbids Congress to abridge political speech, that proscription is somehow superseded by Congress's right to, in Breyer's words, "inhibit" some "speech opportunities" in the name of fine-tuning "a democratic conversation."

    Mr. Breyer's 'Modesty' 2008

  • 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 2010

  • New York Post, my editor would purge French-derived words, like those ending with i-o-n, and replace them with the Anglo-Saxon equivalent, so instead of "inhibit" you had

    unknown title 2009

  • 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 2009

  • 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 2009

  • 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 2009

  • - 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 2009

  • 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.

    The Bushman Way of Tracking God PhD Bradford Keeney 2010

  • 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.

    Andrew Z. Cohen: Shining Light On Your Unconscious Values Andrew Z. Cohen 2011

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

    FDA to review safety of osteoporosis drugs 2011

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