inhibited
AmericanOther Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of inhibited
First recorded in 1960–65; inhibit + -ed 2 ( def. )
Explanation
If something is inhibited it's held back or kept from doing something. An inhibited infection is kept from spreading, possibly by antibiotics. We often use the word inhibited to describe someone’s behavior, especially if that person is self-conscious about doing something, but it also describes the simple fact of being restrained. If you washed your pants in hot water and they shrank and you could just barely squeeze them on, your movement would be inhibited. The Latin root of inhibited is inhibere, "to hold in or hold back."
Vocabulary lists containing inhibited
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
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Lesson 4
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"Love's Vocabulary" by Diane Ackerman
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Once those circuits were inhibited, older workers returned to caring for the queen instead of performing the duties expected at their age.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 23, 2026
The US State Department said last year that "official complicity, including at senior levels, inhibited effective law enforcement action against trafficking crimes" in Cambodia.
From Barron's ● Apr. 3, 2026
Hall told the BBC: "The worry will be with loose language people will feel inhibited about talking about things which are genuinely important today."
From BBC ● Mar. 9, 2026
“It was an odd pairing: Harold Macmillan, the inhibited, repressed publisher’s son, and Bob Boothby, the warm, witty progeny of an Edinburgh banker,” writes Lynne Olson.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2025
It was a station-platform kiss—spontaneous enough to begin with, but rather inhibited in the follow-through, and with somewhat of a forehead-bumping aspect.
From "Franny and Zooey" by J. D. Salinger
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
