inhibitive

Inhibitive is an adjective derived from inhibit, meaning tending to inhibit or restrain. It is used to describe factors, mechanisms, or policies that prevent or discourage an action. For example, an inhibitive cost can deter participation, and inhibitive regulations can raise barriers to entry.

In scientific usage, inhibitive can describe effects that reduce a process, though the more common term in many fields is inhibitory. For instance, one might refer to an inhibitive effect on enzyme activity, but researchers more often say inhibitory effect or inhibitor. In pharmacology and biochemistry, inhibitors slow or stop biochemical reactions; the label inhibitory is standard, with inhibitive used in some contexts to emphasize the blocking action.

In psychology, inhibitory processes refer to mechanisms that suppress impulses and responses, a core aspect of executive function known as inhibitory control.

In linguistics, the term inhibitive has appeared as a label for a proposed grammatical category in certain languages that marks prohibition or discouragement, though it remains a specialized usage and is not widely standardized.

Etymology: from Latin inhibere meaning to hold back, with the English suffix -ive forming an adjective.

See also inhibition, inhibitory, deterrence, regulation, self-control.