inhibition

noun

• 1a feeling that makes one self-conscious and unable to act in a relaxed and natural way:the children, at first shy, soon lost their inhibitions [mass noun]:she showed an enthusiasm for sex and a lack of inhibition which was entirely alien to him
• Psychology a restraint on the direct expression of an instinct.
• [mass noun] the slowing or prevention of a process, reaction, or function by a particular substance.

• 2 [mass noun] the action of inhibiting a process.

• 3 Law, British an order or writ of prohibition, especially against dealing with a specified piece of land or property.