Wiktionary

inflect

English

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WOTD – 13 May 2007

Etymology

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From Latin īnflectō, from in- (“in”) + flectō (“I bend”).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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inflect (third-person singular simple present inflects, present participle inflecting, simple past and past participle inflected)

  1. (transitive) To cause to curve inwards.
  2. (transitive, music) To change the tone or pitch of the voice when speaking or singing.
    The actress has a great skill of being able to inflect her voice to any situation.
  3. (transitive, grammar) To vary the form of a word to express tense, gender, number, mood, etc.
  4. (transitive, grammar, of a word) To be varied in the form to express tense, gender, number, mood, etc.
    In Latin, adjectives and nouns inflect a lot, but inflection is minimally found in Modern English.
  5. (transitive) To influence in style.
    No other poet has inflected me in style as much as Milton.

Synonyms

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  • (to bend or curve inwards): inbend

Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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