inflective

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Related to inflective: inflexed

in·flect

(ĭn-flĕkt′)

v. in·flect·ed, in·flect·ing, in·flects

v.tr.

1. To alter (the voice) in tone or pitch; modulate.

2. Grammar To alter (a word) by inflection.

3. To turn from a course or a specified alignment; bend.

v.intr. Grammar

1. To be modified by inflection.

2. To give all of the inflected forms of a word; to provide a paradigm.

[Middle English inflecten, to bend down, from Latin īnflectere : in-, in; see in-² + flectere, to bend.]

in·flec′tive adj.

in·flec′tor n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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