inflection

Definitions

A change in the form of a word to express a grammatical function such as tense, mood, person, number, case, or gender.

A change in the pitch or tone of a person's voice.

A change in the curvature or direction of a line, surface, or path.

Examples

The speaker's voice had a subtle inflection that conveyed his underlying sarcasm.

In linguistics, inflection refers to the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories.

The sudden inflection in the market trend caught many investors by surprise.

Synonyms

modulation intonation cadence pitch accent variation modification

Antonyms

monotone stagnation uniformity constancy stability fixity levelness