Definition of INFLECTED

Examples of inflect in a Sentence

Most nouns in English are inflected for plural use by adding “-s” or “-es.” Most nouns in English inflect for plural use by adding “-s” or “-es.” Most adjectives in English do not inflect for gender or number.

Recent Examples on the Web Those footnotes are critical, though: Wifredo Lam, a Cuban painter, appears multiple times, inflecting the standard wartime narrative of European ruin with ideas around the destructive force of colonialism and slavery, an ocean away. — BostonGlobe.com, "The Brancusi gallery at the Museum of Modern Art.," 18 Oct. 2019 Later, Shelby is again confronted by Beebe, whose mealy-mouthed bureaucratic jargon and weaselly chicanery inflects the entire drama. — Richard Brody, The New Yorker, "The Airbrushed Racing History of “Ford v Ferrari”," 19 Nov. 2019 Calamari aren’t the usual thin threads of squid, but thick, ropy rectangles, piping hot and partnered with an Asian-inflected, peanut-tamarind-miso dipping sauce. — Rand Richards Cooper, courant.com, "Review: Now in its third home, Metro Bis in Simsbury offers five-star harmony of setting, service and food," 18 Sep. 2019 Most improbable of all was my kid, my Harper, swimming with her friends, playing her netball, learning her te reo Māori, speaking in her aspirational Kiwi-inflected accent. — Longreads, "Tramp Like Us," 18 Sep. 2019 The music was soul-inflected gospel with a hint of country. — Mike Oliver | Moliver@al.com, al, "Tracking a forgotten artist who left great songs, and a message to “Mom"," 23 Nov. 2019 Will’s tale is related in a kind of Chaucer-lite; in accordance with her reading, Bernadine’s narrative is French-inflected; Thomas is resolutely Latinate. — The Economist, "Love in the time of the Black Death," 29 Aug. 2019 Unlike Mandarin, Arabic is inflected for gender, and Chinese dealers, who learn the language strictly by ear, often pick up speech patterns from female customers. — Peter Hessler, Time, "The Case for Embracing Linguistic Identities," 27 June 2019 Thomas’s rightward drift, which began in the seventies, was inflected by the very ethos that once put him on the left: namely, disaffection with black liberalism and the mainstream civil-rights movement. — Corey Robin, The New Yorker, "Clarence Thomas’s Radical Vision of Race," 21 June 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'inflect.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

27 Jan 2020

Cite this Entry

“Inflect.” The Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Inc., https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inflected. Accessed 27 January 2020.