inflect

[ in-flekt ]

See synonyms for inflect on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object)

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.

verb (used without object)

Grammar. to be characterized by inflection.

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. flex¹

Other 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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use inflect in a sentence

He transforms into a fusion of balletic, soaring bird and pop-inflected hip-bumping rock star.
I dare you to not be moved by Another Round, an existentialist film about day drinking | Alissa Wilkinson | December 18, 2020 | Vox
Electric vehicle demand “is really starting to inflect, especially in China,” Ives tells Fortune.
Why Tesla stock could go to $1,000, according to a Wedbush analyst | Anne Sraders | November 23, 2020 | Fortune
Senior critic Robert Sietsema traces the New York history of the opulent and humor-inflected restaurant, which ramped up public expectations for dining
A Last Supper at Mission Chinese in Manhattan | Robert Sietsema | September 29, 2020 | Eater
Cadets mimicked his commands, which he issued in drawn-out syllables in his high-pitched, mountain-inflected voice.
Stonewall Jackson, VMI’s Most Embattled Professor | S. C. Gwynne | November 29, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
But not long ago the Americas were seething with ideologically inflected violence.
Coming Clean on the Dirty War: José Efraín Rios Montt Goes to Trial | Mac Margolis | March 29, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST

But when it comes to self-inflected wounds, Netanyahu has his match in President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Israel and Iran’s Contest in Incompetence | Trita Parsi | August 29, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
Kannada is an inflected language, so you tend to drop what is most important in an English sentence: the subject.
Why I’ve Learned Many Languages by Aravind Adiga | Aravind Adiga | February 19, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
Verbs of this form introduce the ς into the future and other inflected tenses, as πείσω, πεύσομαι.
Notes and Queries, Number 241, June 10, 1854 | Various
In the fore-part it has a sharp trunk, that projects, and is inflected between the fore feet.
The Book of Curiosities | I. Platts
A different sentence order is frequent in inflected languages like Latin, German or Japanese.
Instigations | Ezra Pound
Such men as Valckenaer it is who are biased and inflected beforehand, without perceiving it, by all the commonplaces of criticism.
The Posthumous Works of Thomas De Quincey, Vol. 1 (2 vols) | Thomas De Quincey
It was a highly inflected and purely Teutonic tongue presenting several dialects.
The New Gresham Encyclopedia | Various

British Dictionary definitions for inflect

inflect

/ (ɪnˈflɛkt) /

verb

(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

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

Derived 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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