INFLECTION

views updated May 17 2018

INFLECTION, also especially BrE inflexion. A grammatical form of a word. Some languages make more use of inflections than others: LATIN is highly INFLECTED for nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and verbs, whereas FRENCH is highly inflected for verbs but less so for other parts of speech. Generally, verbs inflect for MOOD, TENSE, PERSON, NUMBER, while nouns and adjectives inflect for NUMBER AND GENDER. Such inflections may involve affixes, sound and spelling changes (including stress shifts), SUPPLETION, or a mixture of these. In English, there are relatively few inflections. Verbs inflect through suffixation (look/looks/looking/looked), but some irregular verbs have past forms that depart from the norm (see/sees/seeing/saw/seen; swim/swims/swimming/swam/swum; put/puts/putting/put). The verb be has eight forms: am, are, be, been, being, is, was, were. Nouns inflect for plurality and possession (worker/workers/worker's/workers') and some adjectives inflect for their comparatives and superlatives (big/bigger/biggest). Seven pronouns have distinct object forms: me, us, her, him, them, thee, whom. See ACCIDENCE, CASE, ENDING, STRONG VERB, WEAK VERB.

inflection

views updated May 29 2018

in·flec·tion / inˈflekshən/ (chiefly Brit. also in·flex·ion) • n. 1. Gram. a change in the form of a word (typically the ending) to express a grammatical function or attribute such as tense, mood, person, number, case, and gender. ∎  the process or practice of inflecting words.2. the modulation of intonation or pitch in the voice: she spoke slowly and without inflection | the variety of his vocal inflections. ∎  the variation of the pitch of a musical note.3. chiefly Math. a change of curvature from convex to concave at a particular point on a curve.DERIVATIVES: in·flec·tion·al / -shənl/ adj.in·flec·tion·al·ly / -shənl-ē/ adv.in·flec·tion·less adj.

inflect

views updated May 21 2018

in·flect / inˈflekt/ • v. [tr.] (often be inflected) 1. Gram. change the form of (a word) to express a particular grammatical function or attribute, typically tense, mood, person, number, case, and gender. ∎  [intr.] (of a word or a language containing such words) undergo such change.2. vary the intonation or pitch of (the voice), esp. to express mood or feeling. ∎  influence or color (music or writing) in tone or style. ∎  vary the pitch of (a musical note).3. technical bend or deflect (something), esp. inward.DERIVATIVES: in·flec·tive / -tiv/ adj.

agglutination

views updated Jun 11 2018

agglutination The clumping together by antibodies of microscopic foreign particles, such as red blood cells or bacteria, so that they form a visible pellet-like precipitate. Agglutination is a specific reaction, i.e. a particular antigen will only clump in the presence of its specific antibody; it therefore provides a means of identifying unknown bacteria and determining blood group. When blood of incompatible blood groups (e.g. group A and group B – see ABO system) is mixed together agglutination of the red cells occurs (haemagglutination). This is due to the reaction between antibodies in the plasma (agglutinins) and agglutinogens (antigens) on the surface of the red cells.

inflection

views updated May 23 2018

inflection Variation in the form of a lexical item (word) that distinguishes its grammatical relationship to other words in a sentence without altering its part of speech. In a common type of inflection, affixes are added to a stem or root form in order to distinguish tense, person, number, gender, voice or case. In English, this is usually achieved by adding different endings to the word stem – singular noun ‘house’ gives plural ‘houses’.

inflect

views updated May 23 2018

inflect bend XV; (gram.) vary the termination of XVII; modulate the tone of XIX. — L. inflectere, f. IN-1 + flectere bend. inflection, inflexion bending, curvature XVI; modulation of voice XVI; (gram.) modification of form in declension, etc. XVII. — (O)F. or L. (see FLEXION).

agglutination

views updated May 11 2018

agglutination The clumping of cells that is caused by the reaction between antigens on their surfaces and antibodies in their external environment. See RHESUS FACTOR.

agglutination

views updated May 21 2018

agglutination Clumping of bacteria or erythrocytes by antibodies that react with antigens on the cell surface.

agglutination

views updated Jun 11 2018

agglutination (clumping) (ă-gloo-tin-ay-shŏn) n. the sticking together of such microscopic antigenic particles as red blood cells or bacteria so that they form visible clumps.
agglutinative adj.

Agglutination

views updated May 21 2018

Agglutination

a combination of simple words to express compound ideasWilkes.

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