Inflection INFLEC'TION, n. [L. inflectio.] The act of bending or turning from a direct line or course.
1. In optics,a property of light by which its rays, when they approach a body, are bent towards it or from it.
2. In grammar, the variation of nouns, etc., by declension, and verbs by conjugation.
3. Modulation of the voice in speaking.
More commonly inflection gives significance to tones.
Point of inflection, in geometry, the point where a curve begins to bend the contrary way.

inflection n 1: a change in the form of a word (usually by adding a suffix) to indicate a change in its grammatical function [syn: inflection, inflexion] 2: the patterns of stress and intonation in a language [syn: prosody, inflection] 3: deviation from a straight or normal course [syn: inflection, flection, flexion] 4: a manner of speaking in which the loudness or pitch or tone of the voice is modified [syn: modulation, inflection]

inflection noun Date: 1531 1. the act or result of curving or bending ; bend 2. change in pitch or loudness of the voice 3. a. the change of form that words undergo to mark such distinctions as those of case, gender, number, tense, person, mood, or voice b. a form, suffix, or element involved in such variation c. accidence 4. a. change in curvature of an arc or curve from concave to convex or conversely b. inflection point

inflection
n. (also inflexion)
1 a the act or condition of inflecting or being inflected. b an instance of this.
2 Gram. a the process or practice of inflecting words. b an inflected form of a word. c a suffix etc. used to inflect, e.g. -ed.
3 a modulation of the voice.
4 Geom. a change of curvature from convex to concave at a particular point on a curve.
Derivatives:
inflectional adj. inflectionally adv. inflectionless adj.
Etymology: F inflection or L inflexio (as INFLECT)

inflection (inflections) 1. An inflection in someone's voice is a change in its tone or pitch as they are speaking. (WRITTEN) The man's voice was devoid of inflection... N-VAR 2. In grammar, an inflection is a change in the form of a word that shows its grammatical function, for example a change that makes a noun plural or makes a verb into the past tense. N-VAR

Inflection the name given to the changes in the end of words to indicate relations, not so common in English—being usually expressed among us by prepositions—as in Latin, Greek, and other languages, but occurring in English as king's, mine, ours, to indicate possession; inflection in nouns is called declension, and in verbs conjugation.

Inflection \In*flec"tion\, n. [L. inflexio : cf. F. inflexion. See Inflect.] [Written also inflecxion.] 1. The act of inflecting, or the state of being inflected. 2. A bend; a fold; a curve; a turn; a twist. 3. A slide, modulation, or accent of the voice; as, the rising and the falling inflection. 4. (Gram.) The variation or change which words undergo to mark case, gender, number, comparison, tense, person, mood, voice, etc. 5. (Mus.) (a) Any change or modification in the pitch or tone of the voice. (b) A departure from the monotone, or reciting note, in chanting. 6. (Opt.) Same as Diffraction. Point of inflection (Geom.), the point on opposite sides of which a curve bends in contrary ways.

inflection n. 1. Bending, curvature, bend, curvity, flexure, crook. 2. (Gram.) Variation (in declension or in conjugation), accidence; declension, conjugation, and comparison. 3. (Music and Elocution.) Modulation (of the voice).

96 Moby Thesaurus words for "inflection": IC analysis, L, S-curve, accent, accidence, affix, affixation, allomorph, angle, apex, articulation, bend, bending, bifurcation, bight, bound morpheme, bow, bowing, cant, chevron, coin, conflexure, conjugation, corner, crank, crook, crotchet, cutting, declension, deflection, derivation, difference of form, dogleg, elbow, ell, enclitic, enunciation, flection, flex, flexure, fork, formative, free form, furcation, geanticline, geosyncline, hairpin turn, hook, immediate constituent analysis, infix, infixation, intonation, intonation pattern, knee, meander, modulation, morph, morpheme, morphemic analysis, morphemics, morphology, morphophonemics, nook, oxbow, paradigm, pitch, pitch accent, point, prefix, prefixation, proclitic, pronunciation, quoin, radical, reflection, root, speech tune, stem, suffix, suffixation, suprasegmental, sweep, swerve, theme, timbre, tonality, tone, tone of voice, turn, turning, veer, vertex, word-formation, zag, zig, zigzag

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