verb · academic

inhibit

/ɪnˈhɪb.ɪt/in·HIB·it

Band 7+task2speaking

to slow down, prevent, or restrict a process or action

Examples

High levels of pollution inhibit plant growth in urban areas.

Certain drugs can inhibit the replication of the virus.

Fear of failure often inhibits students from trying new approaches.

Band 8 sentence

Excessive regulation may inhibit innovation by increasing compliance costs and reducing entrepreneurial initiative.

Collocations

  • inhibit growth
  • inhibit the ability to

Word family

inhibition nouninhibitory adjective

Common mistakes

prevent toprevent from

inhibit someone doing somethinginhibit someone from doing something

Say it for a higher band

5stop6prevent7+inhibit

Synonyms

prevent

Easily confused

prevent

Strict rules can prevent students from cheating during exams.

Related words

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In Sublist 7

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