inhibition

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English inhibicioun,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French inibicion, later spelled with h,^[5][6][4] and directly borrowed from Latin inhibitiō (“a restraining”),^[4][2][6] a noun of action from inhibeō (“to hold in, hold back”).^[5][4][7] The Latin verb is formed from in- (“in, on”) and habeō (“to hold”),^[4] which Etymonline traces to Proto-Indo-European *ghabh- (“to give or receive”).^[4] MWU gives the immediate source as Middle French inhibition.^[3] The verb inhibit is recorded from the early 15th century.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A formal prohibition, especially one issued by an authority to stop legal proceedings, and also the document that sets it out: 1387, in Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon.^[5][2][4]

Semantic evolution

The word began in church and legal use.^[8] In English law it was for a time a synonym of prohibition (1532–43); in ecclesiastical law it named the order of a higher church court halting proceedings in a lower one (1603), and in Scots law a writ forbidding a person to contract debts that would burden his heritable property (1846).^[5] Johnson (1755) defined it as "prohibition; embargo" and, in law, as a writ forbidding a judge to proceed further.^[9] From 1621, in Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, it also meant the act of preventing, hindering or checking, later especially in physiology,^[5] and in chemistry the slowing or stopping of a reaction (1902).^[5][10] The psychological sense, a restraint that checks the direct expression of an impulse, appears in 1876 in William James,^[5][4] and in looser colloquial use it came to mean an inner feeling that keeps a person from acting freely or naturally.^[5][10]

Timeline

• 1387 – a formal prohibition, especially by an authority.^[5][2]
• 1532 – in English law, a prohibition (to 1543).^[5]
• 1603 – in ecclesiastical law, an order stopping proceedings in a lower court.^[5]
• 1621 – the act of preventing, hindering or checking.^[5]
• 1846 – in Scots law, a writ restraining a debtor.^[5]
• 1876 – in psychology, a restraint on the expression of an impulse.^[5][4]
• 1902 – in chemistry, the slowing or stopping of a reaction.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of inhibiting, or the state of being inhibited.^[10][3]
2. (psychology) A restraint, conscious or not, that stops a person from expressing an impulse; in everyday use, a feeling of self-consciousness that keeps one from acting naturally: After a glass of wine he lost his inhibitions and sang.^[10][5]
3. (physiology) The checking or reduction of the activity of a nerve, organ or process.^[5][10]
4. (chemistry) The slowing or stopping of a chemical reaction.^[10][5]
5. (law) A formal prohibition, especially an order of a higher church court halting proceedings in a lower one.^[3][5][9]

Word family

• disinhibition
• contact inhibition

Related words

• inhibit
• prohibition
• habit
• exhibit

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins