in|hib|it

in|hib|it «ihn HIHB iht», transitive verb.

1. to hold back; hinder or restrain; check: »

The girl's honesty inhibited her impulse to keep the ring she found. Insistence on pontificating about national questions…merely serves to inhibit discussion of the fundamentally important state questions (James D. Griffin).

SYNONYM(S): prevent, stop, repress.

2. to forbid; prohibit: »

A clause was…inserted which inhibited the Bank from advancing money to the Crown without authority from Parliament (Macaulay).

SYNONYM(S): interdict.

–v.i.

to act or serve as an inhibitor: »

Two more wires, one to "'sense” and one to “inhibit,” are separately threaded through all cores in each plane (Scientific American).

╂[< Latin inhibitus, past participle of inhibēre < in- in + habēre hold]

–in|hib´it|a|ble, adjective.

–in|hib´it|er, noun.