inflect
to alter, adapt, or modulate (the voice).
to alter or adapt in tone or character: the power of storytelling inflected through a feminist sensibility; jazz-inflected music.
Grammar.
to apply inflection to (a word).
to recite or display all or a distinct set of the inflections of (a word); decline or conjugate.
to bend; turn from a direct line or course.
Botany. to bend in.
Grammar. to be characterized by inflection.
Origin of inflect
1Other words from inflect
- 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
Words Nearby inflect
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use inflect in a sentence
Your cultureSo many key maternal variables — a spouse’s role, the distance to the nearest grandparent — are socially inflected.
The Aces’ locker room, full again, rings with Cambage’s Aussie-inflected jokes and preemptive boasts.
A’ja Wilson had a rebirth, Liz Cambage is healthy, and Las Vegas is among the WNBA favorites | Robert O'Connell | May 13, 2021 | Washington PostNow it would have been absurd to inflect a long English lesson.
Rites and Ritual | Philip Freeman(e) To memorize words and to learn to inflect them, before memorizing and learning how to construct sentences.
The Principles of Language-Study | Harold E. PalmerAnd we yet retain an objective case of the pronoun, and inflect it for person, number and gender.
The American Language | Henry L. Mencken
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?
Vocal Expression | Katherine Jewell EvertsQuery to the class: How did the lady inflect the word Yes to call forth the injunction, Read it again?
Vocal Expression | Katherine Jewell Everts
British Dictionary definitions for inflect
/ (ɪnˈflɛkt) /
(grammar) to change (the form of a word) or (of a word) to change in form by inflection
(tr) to change (the voice) in tone or pitch; modulate
(tr) to cause to deviate from a straight or normal line or course; bend
Origin of inflect
1Derived forms of inflect
- inflectedness, noun
- inflective, adjective
- inflector, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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