inflection

American  

[in-flek-shuhn] / ɪnˈflɛk ʃən /

especially British, inflexion

noun

1. modulation of the voice; change in pitch or tone of voice.

2. Grammar. Also

   1. the process or device of adding affixes to or changing the shape of a base to give it a different syntactic function without changing its form class.

   2. the paradigm of a word.

   3. a single pattern of formation of a paradigm.

      noun inflection; verb inflection.

   4. the change in the shape of a word, generally by affixation, by means of which a change of meaning or relationship to some other word or group of words is indicated.

   5. the affix added to produce this change, as the -s in dogs or the -ed in played.

   6. the systematic description of such processes in a given language, as in serves from serve, sings from sing, and harder from hard (derivation ).

3. a bend or angle.

4. Mathematics. a change of curvature from convex to concave or vice versa.

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inflection British  

/ ɪnˈflɛkʃən /

noun

1. modulation of the voice

2. (grammar) a change in the form of a word, usually modification or affixation, signalling change in such grammatical functions as tense, voice, mood, person, gender, number, or case

3. an angle or bend

4. the act of inflecting or the state of being inflected

5. maths a change in curvature from concave to convex or vice versa See also point of inflection

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inflection Cultural  

1. A change in the form of a word to reflect different grammatical functions of the word in a sentence. English has lost most of its inflections. Those that remain are chiefly possessive ('s), as in “the boy's hat”; plural (-s), as in “the three girls”; and past tense (-d or -ed), as in cared. Other inflections are found in pronouns — as in he, him, his — and in irregular words such as think/thought, child/children, and mouse/mice.

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Other Word Forms

• inflectional adjective
• inflectionally adverb
• inflectionless adjective
• preinflection noun

Etymology

Origin of inflection

1525–35; variant spelling of inflexion < Latin inflexiōn- (stem of inflexiō ) a bending. See inflect, -ion

Example Sentences

Chief Executive Carol Tomé bolstered that view, saying that 2026 will be “an inflection point” in the company’s plan to deliver revenue growth and improved profit margins.

From MarketWatch

“Upon completion of the Amazon glide-down, 2026 will be an inflection point in the execution of our strategy to deliver growth and sustained margin expansion,” Chief Executive Carol Tomé said.

From The Wall Street Journal

The shift from human-centered security to agent security is an inflection point in the business.

From Barron's

The shift from human-centered security to agent security is an inflection point in the business.

From Barron's

For Citi’s global strategy team, this crippling uncertainty undermines the argument for an inflection point upwards in European corporate earnings and so it downgrades its recommendation on continental stocks to neutral.

From MarketWatch

Related Words

• articulation
• pronunciation
• timbre
• tone of voice