genuflect
verb
intransitive verb
Did you know?
Genuflect is derived from the Late Latin genuflectere, formed from the noun genu ("knee") and the verb flectere ("to bend"). Flectere appears in a number of our more common verbs, such as reflect ("to bend or throw back," as light) and deflect ("to turn aside"). By comparison genu sees little use in English, but it did give us geniculate, a word often used in scientific contexts to mean "bent abruptly at an angle like a bent knee." Despite the resemblance, words such as genius and genuine are not related to genuflect; instead, they are of a family that includes the Latin verb gignere, meaning "to beget."
Example Sentences
Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, 24 May 2022 Texas is changing, in ways that Cornyn is wise to genuflect toward, and this election has the look of a blue wave. Benjamin Wallace-wells, The New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2020 They're used to everybody genuflecting in their presence. Patrick Bedard, Car and Driver, 29 May 2020 Patrick Curran hopes customers genuflect over the food, too. Tom Sietsema, Washington Post, 21 Feb. 2020 This wasn't a mere victory lap — although John relished the opportunity to stand up from his piano and genuflect gleefully after practically every song. Piet Levy, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 20 Oct. 2019 With the largest population of Ethiopian immigrants to the United States living in Washington, D.C., strangers on the street there sometimes look at him, recognize the late emperor, and reflexively genuflect in some way. Michael Joseph Gross, Vanities, 27 Apr. 2018 See More Word History
Late Latin genuflectere, from Latin genu knee + flectere to bend — more at knee entry 1
1630, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
Kids Definition
genuflect
verb