GIVE ANSWERS - English

Vote now!AnsweredLanguage Question
"Knowing they could not stop the spread of a contagion, health authorities worked to inhibit its spread and to ameliorate its effect by issuing warning to the public"


does the first part of this statement contradict with the second part? I mean in the first part, it said they understand that they couldn't stop the spread of contagion but in the second part it says they tried to inhibit it. can anybody clarify it?

PS: Here are some related free lessons to learn English: Free instruction: About — How to Say Hello and Greetings — Give up VS Abandon — Grammar Gaffes (mistakes, errors)

GIVE ANSWERS

Doval profile picture DovalJuly 2019
Here, to inhibit means to slow, hinder, make more difficult. But I agree; many people may interpret inhibit to mean stop. The authors could have chosen a word with a clearer meaning. "Slow" would have been an excellent choice. English is a Germanic language. Sometimes the clearest choice is a nice, old-fashioned Germanic word.