inhibition Definition

1. A feeling of fear or embarrassment, caused by emotional or psychological factors which prevents one from acting, thinking, etc freely or spontaneously in some way.

Example: sexual inhibitions
Thesaurus: reserve, reticence, self-consciousness, shyness, hang-up (slang).
2. An act of inhibiting or process of being inhibited.
3. Something which inhibits, prevents progress, holds back or forbids, etc.
4. chem.
A decrease in the rate of a chemical reaction, or of a biochemical reaction in living cells, brought about by an inhibitor (sense 1).