inhibiting Definition

inhibit
verb inhibited, inhibiting

1. To make someone feel nervous or frightened about acting freely or spontaneously, eg by causing them to doubt their abilities.
2. To hold back, restrain or prevent (an action, desire, progress, etc).

Thesaurus: impede, hinder, restrain, suppress, prohibit, curb, arrest, check, discourage, stop; Antonym: encourage, promote.
3. To prohibit or forbid someone from doing something.
4. chem.
To decrease the rate of (a chemical reaction), or to stop it altogether, by means of an inhibitor (sense 1).

Derivative: inhibitive
adj

Derivative: inhibitory
adj

Etymology: 15c in sense 3: from Latin inhibere, inhibitum to keep back.