incline
See also: incliné
English
Alternative forms
- encline (obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle English enclinen, from Old French encliner (modern incliner), from Latin inclīnō (“incline, tilt”), from in- + clīnō (compare -cline), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- (English lean).
Pronunciation
- (verb) enPR: ĭnklīn', IPA(key): /ɪnˈklaɪn/
- (noun) enPR: ĭn'klīn, IPA(key): /ˈɪn.klaɪn/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -ɪnklaɪn
Verb
incline (third-person singular simple present inclines, present participle inclining, simple past and past participle inclined)
- (transitive) To bend or move (something) out of a given plane or direction, often the horizontal or vertical.
- He had to incline his body against the gusts to avoid being blown down in the storm.
- The people following the coffin inclined their heads in grief.
- (intransitive) To slope.
- Over the centuries the wind made the walls of the farmhouse incline.
- (chiefly intransitive, chiefly passive voice) To tend to do or believe something, or move or be moved in a certain direction, away from a point of view, attitude, etc.
- He inclines to believe anything he reads in the newspapers.
- I'm inclined to give up smoking after hearing of the risks to my health.
- 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
- "My tastes," he said, still smiling, "incline me to the garishly sunlit side of this planet." And, to tease her and arouse her to combat: "I prefer a farandole to a nocturne; I'd rather have a painting than an etching; Mr. Whistler bores me with his monochromatic mud; I don't like dull colours, dull sounds, dull intellects; […]."
- 1966, J. M. G. van der Poel, "Agriculture in Pre- and Protohistoric Times", in the Acta Historiae Neerlandica published by the Netherlands Committee of Historical Sciences, p.170:
Related terms
Translations
bend (something) out of a given plane or direction
|
slope
to tend to do or believe something
Noun
incline (plural inclines)
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
slope
|
Further reading
- “incline”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “incline”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “incline”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Anagrams
French
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Verb
incline
- inflection of incliner:
Galician
Verb
incline
- inflection of inclinar:
Italian
Pronunciation
Adjective
incline (plural inclini)
Portuguese
Verb
incline
- inflection of inclinar:
Spanish
Verb
incline
- inflection of inclinar:
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱley- (incline)
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/aɪn
- Rhymes:English/aɪn/2 syllables
- Rhymes:English/ɪnklaɪn
- Rhymes:English/ɪnklaɪn/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- English intransitive verbs
- English terms with quotations
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English heteronyms
- French terms with audio pronunciation
- French non-lemma forms
- French verb forms
- Galician non-lemma forms
- Galician verb forms
- Italian 3-syllable words
- Italian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Italian/ine
- Rhymes:Italian/ine/3 syllables
- Italian lemmas
- Italian adjectives
- Portuguese non-lemma forms
- Portuguese verb forms
- Spanish non-lemma forms
- Spanish verb forms