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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.

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

"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
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.

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

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Regardless of price reaction, it appears lidar technology has hit a positive inflection point.

From Barron's

"We have now seen the inflection of agentic AI and the usefulness of agents across the world," he said, adding that enterprises everywhere were seeing "incredible" demand because of it.

From Barron's

To lead them into the future is Bhusri, who has already navigated one of these inflection points.

From Barron's

“As we look ahead to fiscal 2026, we anticipate these pressures will persist as we have not yet seen a catalyst for an inflection in housing activity.”

From Barron's

Futurum chief strategist Shay Boloor sees the moment as an "inflection point" where millions of AI agents will soon be routinely handling tasks long tended to by people.

From Barron's

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.