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inflexion, inflection|ɪnˈflɛkʃən|
[ad. L. inflexiōn-em, n. of action f. inflectĕre (ppl. stem inflex-) to inflect. Cf. F. inflexion (14th c. in Godef. Compl.). As to the spelling cf. connexion, deflexion.]
1. The action of inflecting or bending, or, more particularly, of bending in or towards itself.
1531Elyot Gov. i. xx, A..crafty daunser, which in his daunse coulde imagine the inflexions of the serpente. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iii. i. 104 They conceive there may be a progression or advancement made in motion without the inflexion of parts. 1756Burke Subl. & B. iii. xxii, There is required a small inflexion of the body. 1837Whewell Hist. Induct. Sc. (1857) II. 61 The inflexion of a direct motion into a curve. 1875Darwin Insectiv. Pl. vii. 172 Sufficient to cause the inflection of a single tentacle.
b. The condition of being inflected or bent; concr. a bending, bend, curvature, or angle.
1658Sir T. Browne Gard. Cyrus ii. 45 The Labyrinth of Crete, built upon a long quadrate, containing five large squares, communicating by right inflections, terminating in the centre of the middle square, and lodging of the Minotaur. 1662Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. iii. i. §16 The several inflections of the joynts serve for all kind of figures. 1771Smollett Humph. Cl. 18 July, Let. to Lewis, [The] view..varied..according to the inflexions of the road. 1802Playfair Illustr. Hutton. Th. 213 The section..of this ridge is highly instructive, from the great disturbance of the primary strata, and the variety of their inflexions. 1837Brewster Magnet. 234 This singular inflexion of the magnetic equator in the South Sea. 1856Woodward Mollusca 301 Ligament contained in a spoon-shaped inflection.
c. fig. A mental or moral bending or turning.
1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. xxxviii. §1 The very steps and inflections euery way..of all passions whereunto the mind is subject. 1774J. Bryant Mythol. I. 190 The allusion will not be..obtained by undue inflexions or distortions. 1890Boldrewood Col. Reformer (1891) 158 Even in..self-analysis men are not infrequently insincere and evasive... Were the moral processes incapable of such inflections [etc.].
†2. Optics. The bending of a ray of light, at the edge of a body, into the geometrical shadow. Now called diffraction. Obs.
1704Newton (title) Opticks: or a Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections and Colours of Light. 1728Pemberton Newton's Philos. 377 These shadows are also observed to be bordered with colours. This our author calls the inflection of light. 1796H. Brougham in Phil. Trans. LXXXVI. 228 If a ray passes within a certain distance of any body, it is bent inwards; this we shall call Inflection. 1831Brewster Newton (1855) I. ix. 194 There is an inflexion of light differing both from refraction and reflexion, and seeming to depend upon the unequal density of the constituent parts of the ray. 1865–72Watts Dict. Chem. III. 601 s.v. Light, These effects, formerly known as Inflection, and now called Diffraction.
3. Geom. Change of curvature from convex to concave at a particular point on a curve; the point at which this takes place is called a point of inflexion (or shortly an inflexion); at such a point the moving tangent to the curve becomes stationary, the direction of its angular motion being changed; hence inflexion is also applied to such a stationary tangent itself, or to the analogous stationary osculating plane (plane inflexion) in a non-plane curve.
1721Bailey, Inflection Point of a Curve is the Point where a Curve begins to bend back again a contrary Way. 1743Emerson Fluxions 144 The Point of Inflexion or contrary Flexure is that Point which separates the convex from the concave Part of the Curve. 1882Minchin Unipl. Kinemat. 100 Points on this circle are therefore points of inflexion on the roulettes to which they give rise; and the circle is hence called the Circle of Inflexions. 1886A. G. Greenhill Diff. & Integr. Calc. 240 At a point of inflexion the curve crosses the tangent.
4. Gram. The modification of the form of a word to express the different grammatical relations into which it may enter; including the declension of substantives, adjectives and pronouns, the conjugation of verbs, the comparison of adjectives and adverbs (but some treat the last under Derivation or Word-formation).
1668Wilkins Real Char. 297 The rules which are proper and peculiar to any one Language..about the Inflexion of words, and the Government of cases. Ibid. 453 Varro..doth not there design to give an account of the just number of words in the Latin, but only to shew the great variety [of words] which is made by the Inflexion and Composition of Verbs. 1876Mason Eng. Gram. (ed. 21) 27 The process of forming the different cases of a noun is called inflection.
b. concr. An inflected form of a word; also, the inflexional suffix or element.
1668Wilkins Real Char. 21 Rules for all such Grammatical Derivations and Inflexions. 1841Elphinstone Hist. Ind. I. 277 It has now been demonstrated by means of a comparison of the inflexions. 1871Roby Lat. Gram. ii. xviii. 189 The indicative mood contains no special inflexions to distinguish it. 1874Sweet Hist. Eng. Sounds 160 Old English is the period of full inflections..Middle English of levelled inflections..and Modern English of lost inflections. 1876Mason Eng. Gram. (ed. 21) 29 This power of treating an inflected form or a complex phrase as though it were a single declinable word, and adding inflections to it, is very remarkable in English.
5. Modulation of the voice; in speaking or singing: a change in the pitch or tone of the voice.
a1600Hooker (J.), The motion of his body and the inflection of his voice. 1783Blair Rhet. vi. I. 108 With regard to inflexions of voice, these are so natural, that, to some nations, it has appeared easier to express different ideas, by varying the tone with which they pronounced the same word, than to contrive words for all their ideas. 1795Mason Ch. Mus. i. 59 It does neither so easily and generally admit, nor so variously introduce those accentual inflexions which they love to employ. 1839–40W. Irving Wolfert's R. (1855) 51 Such melodious sounds and exquisite inflexions could only be produced by organs of the most delicate flexibility. 1880Grove Dict. Mus. II. 765/2 A series of Inflections usually described by modern writers as the ‘Gregorian Tones’. 1883F. M. Peard Contrad. I. 10 There was an inflection in her voice which suggested command.
Hence inˈflexionless (inflectionless) a., void of inflexion or modulation.
1878J. A. H. Murray in Encycl. Brit. VIII. 398 The language had at length reached the all but inflexionless state which it now presents. 1888L. Spender Kept Secret III. xiii. 225 His voice was subdued and inflectionless. |