inflect
Americanverb (used with object)
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inflects,
present (3rd person singular)
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inflected,
past participle, past
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inflecting
present participle
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to alter, adapt, or modulate (the voice).
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to alter or adapt in tone or character: jazz-inflected music.
the power of storytelling inflected through a feminist sensibility;
jazz-inflected music.
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Grammar.
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to apply inflection to (a word).
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to recite or display all or a distinct set of the inflections of (a word); decline or conjugate.
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to bend; turn from a direct line or course.
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Botany. to bend in.
verb (used without object)
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inflects,
present (3rd person singular)
-
inflected,
past participle, past
-
inflecting
present participle
verb
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(grammar) to change (the form of a word) or (of a word) to change in form by inflection
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(tr) to change (the voice) in tone or pitch; modulate
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(tr) to cause to deviate from a straight or normal line or course; bend
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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inflectednessnoun
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inflectornoun
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inflectiveadjective
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noninflectedadjective
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uninflectedadjective
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uninflectiveadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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inflectsimple
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inflectssimple
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have inflectedperfect
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has inflectedperfect
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am inflectingprogressive
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are inflectingprogressive
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is inflectingprogressive
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have been inflectingperfect progressive
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has been inflectingperfect progressive
Past
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inflectedsimple
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had inflectedperfect
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was inflectingprogressive
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were inflectingprogressive
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had been inflectingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of inflect
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English inflecten, from Latin inflectere “to bend in,” equivalent to in- in- 2 + flectere “to bend, curve”; cf. flex 1
Explanation
To inflect is to speak in a way that reflects — and changes with — your mood. After hearing tragic news, you'll inflect what you say with the sadness you feel. The changing pitch of your voice inflects your words with meaning, and another way to inflect is to change the form of a word for grammatical reasons, including tense, number, or gender. When you inflect verbs, it's also called conjugation. For example, when you change the verb "to be" from "I am" to "we are," you inflect it. The Latin root of inflect is inflectere, "to bend," and also "to change."
Vocabulary lists containing inflect
The Devil's Arithmetic
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Spy School
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flec, flex
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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:
But his new target price starts to value Tesla on earnings potential in 2030 and beyond, which is when he thinks revenue and margin performance will inflect higher following the current period of hefty spending.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 5, 2026
She added that January’s gains were broad based across demographics, and that a chaotic month for international affairs hadn’t seemed to inflect consumers’ economic views.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026
Bias: Value-oriented “accumulate” for patient investors; build positions gradually and be prepared for extended periods of underperformance until technicals and sentiment inflect.
From Barron's ● Dec. 11, 2025
If the two producers’ generally dissimilar sounds — Dessner leans pastoral, and Antonoff, synthetic — both inflect the record, it could be anything from folk to indie pop.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 18, 2024
What confusion the practice must make in the language, especially when we come to inflect this part of the verb with st or est, has already been suggested.
From The Grammar of English Grammars by Goold Brown
Jefferies analyst Samad Samana expects that investors will return to application-software names “when growth inflects alongside AI revenues,” he wrote in a Sunday note to clients.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 2, 2026
Looking at it, one wonders: Is this sculpture distinctive because volcanoes in central Java are spiritual sites, so molten material thrown up from deep within the earth inflects the art’s intended meaning?
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 22, 2024
“It’s the absence of God that inflects this great moral responsibility on us,” she told the New Yorker.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 2, 2022
Later, Shelby is again confronted by Beebe, whose mealy-mouthed bureaucratic jargon and weaselly chicanery inflects the entire drama.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 19, 2019
The subject must be put into the case of the agent, and the participle inflects to agree with the object.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 4 "Hero" to "Hindu Chronology" by Various
Frank, formerly a member of the pop duo Surfaces, has exploded in the past year by making Christian music that pairs hip-hop inflected beats with relentlessly sunny lyrics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 9, 2025
As a result, Western Digital’s free-cash-flow yield inflected positive at the end of 2024 and has increased ever since.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 18, 2025
That idea has inflected a lot of their jurisprudence on voting rights.
From Salon ● May 16, 2025
So far, the 2020’s have been something of a golden era for tropically inflected pop.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 31, 2024
Jacob’s was inflected with the rhythms of the Hebrew Bible and the beit midrash where the men of his village studied and argued.
From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz
“We’re definitely in a premium valuation territory,” Jefferies analyst Joseph Gallo says in an interview, adding that inflecting fundamentals could support upward estimate revisions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
“We continue to aim to deepen our lead in all of them. And all of them feel like they’re inflecting at the same time, which is great.”
From Barron's ● Apr. 14, 2026
“Aggregate hyperscaler cloud revenues are inflecting in 2025 and are expected to continue accelerating in 2026 driven by enterprise AI adoption,” Malik said.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 10, 2025
“While economic uncertainty remains, we believe the profit cycle is inflecting higher,” the strategists wrote in a BofA Global Research report.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 31, 2023
To what style is the inflecting of shall, will, may, can, should, would, might, and could, now restricted?
From The Grammar of English Grammars by Goold Brown
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