# inflection

/ˌɪnˈfɫɛkʃən/ (US) · /ɪnflˈɛkʃən/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/inflection
Updated: 2026-08-27

## Senses

### 1. grammar

noun · CEFR C1 · Technical · Academic

a change in the ending or form of a word to show things like tense or number.

For teachers: the morphological process by which a word is modified to express grammatical categories such as tense, mood, person, or number.

- In English, adding '-ed' to a verb is a common inflection to show the past tense.
- Highly inflected languages like Latin or Russian rely on word endings rather than word order to convey grammatical relationships within a sentence.

Usage: Often used as an uncountable noun when referring to the general linguistic concept.

### 2. tone of voice

noun · CEFR B2

a change in the pitch or loudness of your voice while you are speaking.

For teachers: a modulation of the voice; a change in pitch or tone that conveys meaning or emotion.

- She noticed a slight inflection of sadness in his voice when he mentioned home.
- The actor used subtle inflections to signal sarcasm without changing the literal meaning of the script.

### 3. mathematics/geometry

noun · CEFR C2 · Technical · Academic

a point where a curve changes its direction.

For teachers: a change in the curvature of a line from concave to convex or vice versa.

- The graph shows a clear inflection point where the growth starts to slow down.
- The engineer identified the point of inflection on the structural beam to determine where the stress was most concentrated.

Usage: Commonly appears in the fixed phrase 'inflection point'.

## Examples

- The inflection of the verb shows that the action is finished.
- The teacher explained that the correct inflection of the pronoun is essential for the sentence to make sense.
- In differential geometry, the second derivative provides a measure of the inflection of a curve, indicating whether it is bending upward or downward at a specific point.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.