/in'i bish"euhn, in'hi-/ , n.
1. the act of inhibiting.
2. the state of being inhibited.
3. something that inhibits; constraint.
4. Psychol.
a. the blocking or holding back of one psychological process by another.
b. inappropriate conscious or unconscious restraint or suppression of behavior, as sexual behavior, often due to guilt or fear produced by past punishment, or sometimes considered a dispositional trait.
5. Physiol.
a. a restraining, arresting, or checking of the action of an organ or cell.
b. the reduction of a reflex or other activity as the result of an antagonistic stimulation.
c. a state created at synapses making them less excitable by other sources of stimulation.
6. Chem. a stoppage or decrease in the rate of action of a chemical reaction.
7. Eng. Eccles. Law. an order, esp. from a bishop, suspending a priest or an incumbent from the performance of duties.
[ 1350-1400; ME inhibicio ( u ) n inhibition- (s. of inhibitio ). See INHIBIT, -ION ]