Inhibit
//ɪnˈhɪbɪt// verb
verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
Verb
- 1 To hold in or hold back; to keep in check; restrain. transitive
"inhibit someone's freedom"
- 2 prohibit, forbid, or prevent from doing something wordnet
- 3 To recuse. Philippines
- 4 make (someone) self-conscious and as a result unable to act naturally wordnet
- 5 consciously restrain from showing; of emotions, desires, impulses, or behavior wordnet
Show 1 more definition
- 6 limit, block, or decrease the action or function of wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"Yet education is the only factor that can inhibit prejudice, be it between ethnicities or genders."
Etymology
From Latin inhibitus, perfect passive participle of inhibeō (“I hold in, check, restrain”), from in (“in, at, on”), + habeō (“I have, hold, keep”).
Related phrases
More for "inhibit"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.