Definition

Changed in form to show different grammatical functions, such as tense, mood, or number, often used in reference to words in a language.

Example

In English, verbs are often inflected to indicate past tense or third person.

Conversation

I was reading about how some languages are inflected more than others.

Really? I didn't know that! How does it work?

Well, it means that the words change form based on their grammatical role.

That makes sense. English is less inflected compared to languages like Latin, right?

Synonyms & Antonyms

Definition

To change the form of a word to express different grammatical features such as tense, mood, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, and case.

Example

The verb 'run' is inflected to 'ran' in the past tense.

Tense Forms

Conversation

I noticed that the verb forms in Spanish are really inflected differently than in English.

Yeah, it's interesting how languages can vary so much in structure.

I wonder how many different ways verbs can be inflected in other languages too.

Root Explanation

Inflected → It is formed from "in-" (meaning into or not) and "flectere" (meaning to bend). The word describes a change in form or bending of a word to express different grammatical features.

Memory Tip

Think of a word that is 'bent' or changed ('flectere') into different forms ('in-') to show things like tense or number.

Visually Confused Words