Sample Sentences for
inhibit
grouped by contextual meaning
(editor-reviewed)

inhibit as in:  inhibited the growth of...

Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
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    In their culture, contact between the young was inhibited by strict social customs.
    inhibited = limited
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    Slowly, feeling the compulsions and unable to inhibit them, Paul put his hand into the box.  (source)
    inhibit = prevent
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    We believe that schools inhibit the natural curiosity, creativity, and intelligence of children.  (source)
    inhibit = keep from developing
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Show 10 more with 10 word variations
  • •
    Freed of normal constraints, some of the young let go of their inhibitions and, under cover of darkness, caressed one another, without any thought of others, alone in the world.†  (source)
    standard suffix: The suffix "-tions", converts a verb into a plural noun that denotes results of the verb. Typically, there is a slight change in the ending of the root verb, as in actions, illustrations, and observations.
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    There were terpenes, which plants spread to poison the soil around them and inhibit competitors; alkaloids, which made them unpalatable to insects and predators (and children); and pheromones, used for communication.  (source)
    inhibit = keep from developing or limit
  • •
    He had disguised the event as a football rally, strictly for students, without the inhibition of the teachers being present.  (source)
    inhibition = restraint
    standard suffix: The suffix "-tion", converts a verb into a noun that denotes the action or result of the verb. Typically, there is a slight change in the ending of the root verb, as in action, education, and observation.
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    But of course, in all her conversations with Ashley there were so many things which could not be said, for honor's sake, that the sheer force of them inhibited other remarks.  (source)
    inhibited = limited or prevented
  • •
    The toxin does the deed insidiously, indirectly, by inhibiting an enzyme essential to glycoprotein metabolism.  (source)
    inhibiting = limiting or restraining
  • •
    I read about selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which are antidepressants.†  (source)
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    But to hear around them is too much; it inhibits action.†  (source)
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    In the name of caring about her, your lie became an inhibitor in your relationship with her, and in her relationship with me.†  (source)
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    The question flung itself in-voluntarily over Jane Withersteen's inhibitive habit of faith without question.†  (source)
    standard suffix: The suffix "-ive" converts a word into an adjective; though over time, what was originally an adjective often comes to be used as a noun. The adjective pattern means tending to and is seen in words like attractive, impressive, and supportive. Examples of the noun include narrative, alternative, and detective.
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    THROUGH learning at my later date things I hadn't known, or had escaped or possibly feared realizing, about my parents—and myself—I glimpse our whole family life as if it were freed of that clock time which spaces us apart so inhibitingly, divides young and old, keeps our living through the same experiences at separate distances.†  (source)
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inhibited as in:  she is shy and inhibited

•
She's personable and funny with her friends, but she tends to be inhibited with strangers.
inhibited = unable to act naturally due to being overly self-conscious
Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
  • •
    She is shy and inhibited with strangers.
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    It was like a child's game that had lost all inhibition in adult hands.  (source)
    inhibition = limitation or restraint
  • •
    Interaction between the male species and the female species was varied and intense and highly unpredictable. There was more touching than I thought there would be. Some students had no inhibitions whatsoever.  (source)
    inhibitions = limitations in actions due to being self-conscious
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Show 10 more with 4 word variations
  • •
    As the president listened in amazement, his usually shy and sexually inhibited wife told him precisely what she wanted from him in bed.  (source)
    inhibited = limited in action due to embarrassment or self-consciousness
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    It was an incredible performance, completely uninhibited.  (source)
    uninhibited = done naturally without being self-conscious
    standard prefix: The prefix "un-" in uninhibited means not and reverses the meaning of inhibited. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
  • •
    The histories revealed in each a severe degree of sexual inhibition.  (source)
    inhibition = limitation of activity
    standard suffix: The suffix "-tion", converts a verb into a noun that denotes the action or result of the verb. Typically, there is a slight change in the ending of the root verb, as in action, education, and observation.
  • •
    Why, Good Lord, Maud, I could talk about neuroses and psychoses and inhibitions and repressions and complexes just as well as any damn specialist, if I got paid for it, if I was in the city and had the nerve to charge the fees that those fellows do.  (source)
    inhibitions = inabilities to act naturally due to being overly self-conscious
    standard suffix: The suffix "-tions", converts a verb into a plural noun that denotes results of the verb. Typically, there is a slight change in the ending of the root verb, as in actions, illustrations, and observations.
  • •
    A side effect of the sleep syrup is that it makes people less inhibited, like white liquor, and I know I have to control my tongue.  (source)
    inhibited = limited in action due to self-consciousness
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    She lightly hitched her skirt up to her knee, quite uninhibited.†  (source)
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    I had not yet considered that my dream girl would also lack any inhibition about language; my companions of the past would have been unable to utter the word "breast" without blushing.  (source)
    inhibition = inability to act naturally due to being overly self-conscious
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    Jessica, hearing the voices, felt the depth of the experience, realized what terrible inhibitions there must be against shedding tears.  (source)
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    Maraa Isabel knows he wants her to say she loves him, but she can't; she has always been painfully shy. She feels inhibited in the Internet store.  (source)
    inhibited = unable to act naturally due to being overly self-conscious
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    Then go back to New York and be uninhibited.†  (source)
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