genuflection
Americannoun
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
She clapped her hands together and the curtains at her right bellied out, parted and a man stepped before her, bending deeply in genuflection.
From Daughter of the Sun A Tale of Adventure by Gregory, Jackson
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.
