inflect

[ in-flekt ]

verb (used with object)

1. to alter, adapt, or modulate (the voice).
2. to alter or adapt in tone or character: jazz-inflected music.

   the power of storytelling inflected through a feminist sensibility;

   jazz-inflected music.

3. Grammar.
   1. to apply inflection to (a word).
   2. to recite or display all or a distinct set of the inflections of (a word); decline or conjugate.
4. to bend; turn from a direct line or course.
5. Botany. to bend in.

verb (used without object)

1. Grammar. to be characterized by inflection.

inflect

/ ɪnˈflɛkt /

verb

1. grammar to change (the form of a word) or (of a word) to change in form by inflection
2. tr to change (the voice) in tone or pitch; modulate
3. tr to cause to deviate from a straight or normal line or course; bend

Derived Forms

• inˈflective, adjective
• inˈflector, noun
• inˈflectedness, noun

Other Words From

• in·flected·ness noun
• in·flective adjective
• in·flector noun
• nonin·flected adjective
• unin·flected adjective
• unin·flective adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of inflect¹

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English inflecten, from Latin inflectere “to bend in,” equivalent to in- in- ² + flectere “to bend, curve”; flex ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of inflect¹

C15: from Latin inflectere to curve round, alter, from flectere to bend

Example Sentences

Your cultureSo many key maternal variables — a spouse’s role, the distance to the nearest grandparent — are socially inflected.

From Washington Post

The Aces’ locker room, full again, rings with Cambage’s Aussie-inflected jokes and preemptive boasts.

From Washington Post

Now it would have been absurd to inflect a long English lesson.

From Project Gutenberg

(e) To memorize words and to learn to inflect them, before memorizing and learning how to construct sentences.

From Project Gutenberg

And we yet retain an objective case of the pronoun, and inflect it for person, number and gender.

From Project Gutenberg

Can you so inflect "sprawling in want" and "sitting high" as to suggest a swamp and a mountain-top, or a frog and an angel?

From Project Gutenberg

Query to the class: How did the lady inflect the word Yes to call forth the injunction, Read it again?

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• announce
• articulate
• assert
• declare
• deliver
• emphasize
• present
• proclaim
• say
• speak
• tell
• utter
• vent