*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. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To check; to hold back; to restrain; to hinder. [ 1913 Webster ]

Their motions also are excited or inhibited . . . by the objects without them. Bentley. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To forbid; to prohibit; to interdict. [ 1913 Webster ]

All men were inhibited, by proclamation, at the dissolution, so much as to mention a Parliament. Clarendon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Burial may not be inhibited or denied to any one. Ayliffe. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ PJC ]

4. To restrain (a behavior) by a mechanism involving conscious or unconscious motivations. [ PJC ]

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. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. Having a hesitancy or reluctance to exhibit normal emotional reactions; -- of people; as, he was too inhibited to make friends easily. [ PJC ]

adj. discouraging (a person) from action by threat of punishment; as, an overly strict or inhibiting discipline.
Syn. -- inhibitory, repressive, repressing. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ L. inhibitio: cf. F. inhibition. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The act of inhibiting, or the state of being inhibited; restraint; prohibition; embargo. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Physiol.) A stopping or checking of an already present action; a restraining of the function of an organ, or an agent, as a digestive fluid or enzyme, etc.; as, the inhibition of the respiratory center by the pneumogastric nerve; the inhibition of reflexes, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Law) A writ from a higher court forbidding an inferior judge from further proceedings in a cause before; esp., a writ issuing from a higher ecclesiastical court to an inferior one, on appeal. Cowell. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Chem., Biochem.) The reduction in rate or stopping of a chemical or biochemical reaction, due to interaction with a chemical agent. [ PJC ]

n. [ NL. ] That which causes inhibitory action; esp., an inhibitory nerve. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ LL. inhibitorius: cf. F. inhibitoire. ] Of or pertaining to, or producing, inhibition; consisting in inhibition; tending or serving to inhibit; as, the inhibitory action of the pneumogastric on the respiratory center. [ 1913 Webster ]

I would not have you consider these criticisms as inhibitory. Lamb. [ 1913 Webster ]

Inhibitory nerves (Physiol.), those nerves which modify, inhibit, or suppress a motor or secretory act already in progress. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Physiol.) A term applied to certain nerve centers which govern or restrain subsidiary centers, from which motor impressions issue. McKendrick. [ 1913 Webster ]