inflection point

noun

1

: a moment when significant change occurs or may occur : turning point

At 18, Bobby is at an inflection point that will largely determine the course of his life.

—Stacy Perman

… the gradual move away from big-iron machines toward work stations and personal computers has been going on for years in corporate America—but the inflection point came suddenly.

—Steve Lohr

It depends on us, on the choices we make, particularly at certain inflection points in history; particularly when big changes are happening and everything seems up for grabs.

—Barack Obama

2

mathematics : a point on a curve that separates an arc concave upward from one concave downward and vice versa

Examples of inflection point in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Far from creating some new inflection point, this war will wind down, leaving in its wake substantial destruction and the inevitable anticipation about when the next round will take place. —Daniel Kurtzer, New York Daily News, 5 Apr. 2026

In other words, no white-collar sector is immune, but some are considerably closer to the inflection point than others. —Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 5 Apr. 2026

SpaceX is at an inflection point. —Chris Isidore, CNN Money, 1 Apr. 2026

The music industry was at an interesting inflection point, firmly out of the CD era and into the iTunes era. —Rebecca Milzoff, Billboard, 31 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1708, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for inflection point

• adjoint
• anoint
• appoint
• checkpoint
• conjoint
• disjoint
• endpoint
• gunpoint
• midpoint
• nonpoint
• pinpoint
• standpoint