genuflect
Americanverb (used without object)
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to bend the knee or touch one knee to the floor in reverence or worship.
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to express a servile attitude.
verb
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to act in a servile or deferential manner
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RC Church to bend one or both knees as a sign of reverence, esp when passing before the Blessed Sacrament
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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genuflectsimple
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genuflectssimple
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have genuflectedperfect
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has genuflectedperfect
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am genuflectingprogressive
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are genuflectingprogressive
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is genuflectingprogressive
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have been genuflectingperfect progressive
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has been genuflectingperfect progressive
Past
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genuflectedsimple
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had genuflectedperfect
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was genuflectingprogressive
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were genuflectingprogressive
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had been genuflectingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of genuflect
1620–30; < Medieval Latin genūflectere to bend the knee, equivalent to Latin genū-, stem of genu knee + flectere to bend
Explanation
If you are genuflecting, you are on your knees — either physically or in spirit. Politicians are experts at genuflecting to whatever idea or person is most popular at the time. In the old days, when you came in front of your social superiors, you were expected to genuflect: that is, bend your knee and bow submissively. You did it before kings and nobles, and everyone did it in church before God. In our more egalitarian age, genuflecting has taken on a rather insincere and servile meaning. Best not to genuflect, but simply to admire.
Vocabulary lists containing genuflect
100 SAT Words Beginning with "G"
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Bless Me, Ultima
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The Bluest Eye
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Shows like “Top Chef” teach us to genuflect at the altars of celebrity culinarians, viewing their restaurants and signature dishes as luxury experiences as opposed to showing regular folks how to think innovatively about dinner.
From Salon ● Jan. 30, 2026
Turn off your cellphones and get ready to genuflect because Patti LuPone, musical theater royalty, is heading to the Hollywood Bowl on July 30 for a one-night tribute to Sondheim.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2023
“Instead, the faithful are requested to genuflect or make a profound bow as they venerate the cross,” said Archbishop Romulo Valles, who heads the bishops’ conference.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 26, 2020
The restaurant is lined with press clippings, and toward the back, you can genuflect before a shrine to past candidates and ex-presidents.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 16, 2020
Every time I stepped into his office, I felt the need to genuflect.
From "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" by Wes Moore
Mapplethorpe genuflects at the altar of that icon with a platinum portrait of Warhol, backed by a halo of light and surrounded by silk panels that form a cross.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025
Without anything divine to revere, American home and landscape design largely genuflects at the altar of the market.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2025
On arrival, Pope Francis is unlikely to follow his predecessor in kissing the tarmac at Dublin airport; at 81, he has one lung and weakness in his knees means he no longer genuflects.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 24, 2018
That it is an expressly Catholic organization, holding no territory, with its leaders bound by a vow of obedience to the Roman pontiff suggests, however, that this is a sovereignty that genuflects.
From The New Yorker ● Feb. 1, 2017
According to Baldeschi, the veil is removed from the celebrant when he genuflects in the predella, after having given the benediction.
From The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume 1, December 1864 by Various
He hired people because they genuflected to him, not because they had any expertise.
From Salon ● Mar. 29, 2023
“Everybody sort of genuflected to Hazel because she was this little dynamo,” said David Peterson, a former Liberal premier of Ontario between 1985 and 1990.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 11, 2022
In silence, they genuflected before the coffins, or bowed and kissed them in the dark.
From New York Times ● Mar. 2, 2022
I don’t recall whether we rose and genuflected upon the arrival of Big John, but doing so would’ve been appropriate.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 2, 2020
She genuflected before the altar, then knelt at the rail.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
For all of underground music’s genuflecting to progressive values, Zulu asks for a lot of self-reflection from its audience.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2023
As the Washington Post's media reporter put it: "Everyone is genuflecting before the Pentagon powerhouse… America's new rock star."
From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2023
The figures, dubbed the “kneeling attendants” by curators, crouch as if genuflecting.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 5, 2021
The court did not fall all over itself genuflecting to the supposedly superior expertise of school administrators to make disciplinary decisions without judicial second-guessing.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2021
“Sorrento has tried everything but genuflecting, doing a little dance, and sticking his pinky finger in the keyhole.”
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
