GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found 2 definitions

1.       
   Inhibit (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Inhibited; p. pr. & vb. n. Inhibiting.] [L. inhibitus, p. p. of inhibere; pref. in- in + habere to have, hold. See Habit.]
   
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   1. To check; to hold back; to restrain; to hinder.
   
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   Their motions also are excited or inhibited . . . by the objects without them. Bentley.
   
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   2. To forbid; to prohibit; to interdict.
   
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   All men were inhibited, by proclamation, at the dissolution, so much as to mention a Parliament. Clarendon.
   
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   Burial may not be inhibited or denied to any one. Ayliffe.
   
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   3. (Chem., Biochem.) To cause the rate of (a chemical or biochemical reaction) to proceed slower, or to halt; as, “vitamin C inhibits oxidation; penicillins inhibit bacterial cell wall synthesis”.
   
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   4. To restrain (a behavior) by a mechanism involving conscious or unconscious motivations.
   
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2.       
   inhibited adj.
   1. held back or restrained or prevented; as, “in certain conditions previously inhibited conditioned reactions can reappear”; -- of behaviors.  Opposite of uninhibited. [Narrower terms: pent-up, repressed ; stifled, strangled, suppressed ] Also See: reserved, restrained.
   
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   2. Having a hesitancy or reluctance to exhibit normal emotional reactions; -- of people; as, “he was too inhibited to make friends easily”.
   
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