genuflection

American  

[jen-yoo-flek-shuhn] / ˌdʒɛn yʊˈflɛk ʃən /

especially British, genuflexion

noun

1. an act of bending the knee or touching it to the ground in reverence or worship.

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Etymology

Origin of genuflection

First recorded in 1520–30, genuflection is from the Medieval Latin word genūflexiōn- (stem of genūflexiō ). See genuflect, -ion

Example Sentences

He saw the tribal genuflection as “an empty, performative act” that implied “UW’s presence is somehow illegitimate, shameful, morally wrong.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 29, 2025

Or is something else happening; is the press manifesting an unadmitted genuflection to raw power, exercised arbitrarily, out of calculated self-preservation?

From Salon • Nov. 1, 2024

“It’s only a movie, and … a much less impressive one than all the accompanying genuflection would have you believe.”

From Los Angeles Times • May 3, 2024

Still, they’ve all grown too used to each other to engage in much genuflection: When you treat an awards campaign like a full-time job, the other contenders might as well be your co-workers.

From New York Times • Feb. 12, 2024

The triple genuflection represents the Trinity of Persons, not a difference of adoration.

From Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province by Thomas, Aquinas, Saint