the blocking or holding back of one psychological process by another.
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.
Physiology.
a restraining, arresting, or checking of the action of an organ or cell.
the reduction of a reflex or other activity as the result of an antagonistic stimulation.
a state created at synapses making them less excitable by other sources of stimulation.
Chemistry. a stoppage or decrease in the rate of action of a chemical reaction.
English Ecclesiastical Law. an order, especially from a bishop, suspending a priest or an incumbent from the performance of duties.
Origin of inhibition
1350–1400;Middle Englishinhibicio(u)n < Latininhibitiōn- (stem of inhibitiō). See inhibit, -ion
late 14c., "formal prohibition; interdiction of legal proceedings by authority;" also, the document setting forth such a prohibition, from Old French inibicion and directly from Latin inhibitionem (nominative inhibitio) "a restraining," from past participle stem of inhibere "to hold in, hold back, keep back," from in- "in, on" (see in- (2)) + habere "to hold" (see habit). Psychological sense of "involuntary check on an expression of an impulse" is from 1876.
The blocking or limiting of the activity of an organ, tissue, or cell of the body, caused by the action of a nerve or neuron or by the release of a substance such as a hormone or neurotransmitter. Compare excitation.
