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

This feels like an inflection point for Chicago dance. —Lauren Warnecke, Chicago Tribune, 3 Sep. 2025

For Confluent, the data streaming pioneer, that inflection point came as the company scaled across clouds, regions, and go-to-market motions. —Scott Woody, Forbes.com, 1 Sep. 2025

Last October, Merve Emre convened a group of translators and publishers at the same villa to return to those ideas and to examine a field at an inflection point. —The Critic, Literary Hub, 27 Aug. 2025

Powell’s Jackson Hole remarks, his last such as Fed chair, come at an inflection point in the central bank’s 111-year history. —Bryan Mena, CNN Money, 22 Aug. 2025

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