INFLECTION • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Inflection

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/ɪnflˈɛkʃən/ Listen

noun

Inflection n. (Written also inflecxion)

The act of inflecting, or the state of being inflected.

A bend; a fold; a curve; a turn; a twist.

A slide, modulation, or accent of the voice; as, the rising and the falling inflection.

(Gram.) The variation or change which words undergo to mark case, gender, number, comparison, tense, person, mood, voice, etc.

(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.

(Opt.) Same as Diffraction.

Point of inflection (Geom.), the point on opposite sides of which a curve bends in contrary ways.

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Etymology of 'Inflection'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Inflection" Quotes from Famous Books

... marquis who opened the door for the ladies; it was the marquis who said good night with an inflection which gave it a new meaning; it was the marquis who intruded into madame's thoughts, causing her partly to forget the letter and ...

— The Grey Cloak • Harold MacGrath

... books!" repeated Lady Glistonbury, with the same inflection of voice, and the same bridling and smiling. "Very different," continued her ladyship, "very different from what you have been accustomed to see on some ladies' tables, no doubt, Mr. Vivian! Without mentioning names, or alluding to transactions that ought to be buried in eternal oblivion, and ...

— Tales and Novels, Vol. V - Tales of a Fashionable Life • Maria Edgeworth

... within a circle in which the phantoms of all his sensations in presence of this woman surged and wheeled around him. Suddenly there would emerge from this tangle of memory, with singular precision, some phrase of hers, an inflection of her voice, an attitude, a glance, the seat where they had sat, the finale of the Beethoven sonata, a burst of melody from Mary Dyce, the face of the footman who had held back the portiere—anything that happened to have caught his attention at ...

— The Child of Pleasure • Gabriele D'Annunzio

... icy inflection in the tones which sent a chill to Marcantonio's heart as he listened. One of the Chiefs of the Ten was always a member of the still more dreaded Inquisition, whose identity was never known, and ...

— A Golden Book of Venice • Mrs. Lawrence Turnbull

... they grow thickly and wild," he replied, with some inflection of sadness in his voice; "long, long ago, before my father's father lived, there was a great town here. That was long before we of this land had ever seen a white man. And now we who are left are but as ...

— "Martin Of Nitendi"; and The River Of Dreams - 1901 • Louis Becke

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