inhibition

 
Pronunciation: /ɪn(h)ɪˈbɪʃ(ə)n/

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.

Origin:

late Middle English (in the sense 'forbidding, a prohibition'): from Latin inhibitio(n-), from the verb inhibere (see inhibit)