MEANING
1. To change a word’s form to express a grammatical distinction such as tense, number, or case.
2. To vary a voice’s pitch or tone, or give an expression a particular shading.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- inflect a verb
- an inflected form
On the page
The tutor showed her how to inflect the verb without changing its basic meaning.
In his invented grammar, nouns inflected for location as well as number.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- inflect
- Past tense
- inflected
- Past participle
- inflected
- Present participle
- inflecting
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- inflect
- Present continuous
- am/is/are inflecting
- Present perfect
- have/has inflected
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been inflecting
- Past
- inflected
- Past continuous
- was/were inflecting
- Past perfect
- had inflected
- Past perfect continuous
- had been inflecting
- Future
- will inflect
- Future continuous
- will be inflecting
- Future perfect
- will have inflected
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been inflecting
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: literary. Forms: inflect; inflects; inflected; inflected; inflecting Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: inflects.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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