FromMiddle Englishenclinen, fromOld Frenchencliner (modernincliner), fromLatininclīnō(“incline, tilt”), fromin- +clīnō (compare-cline), fromProto-Indo-European*ḱley- (Englishlean).
incline (third-person singular simple presentinclines,present participleinclining,simple past and past participleinclined)
- (transitive) Tobend or move (something) out of a given plane or direction, often thehorizontal orvertical.
He had toincline his body against the gusts to avoid being blown down in the storm.
The people following the coffininclined their heads in grief.
- (intransitive) Toslope.
Over the centuries the wind made the walls of the farmhouseincline.
- (chiefly intransitive, chiefly passive voice) Totend to do or believe something, or move or be moved in a certain direction, away from apoint of view,attitude, etc.
Heinclines to believe anything he reads in the newspapers.
I'minclined to give up smoking after hearing of the risks to my health.
1907 August,Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, inThe 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 theActa Historiae Neerlandica published by the Netherlands Committee of Historical Sciences, p.170:
- Theterp farmer made use of the plough, as is shown by the discovery of three ploughshares and fourcoulters. […] Those whoinclined to the stock-breeding theory based their arguments on the absence of ploughs, […].
bend (something) out of a given plane or direction
to tend to do or believe something
incline (pluralinclines)
- Aslope.
To reach the building, we had to climb a steepincline.
- Aportal of asubwaytunnel.
- “incline”, inWebster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.:G. & C. Merriam,1913,→OCLC.
- William Dwight Whitney,Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “incline”, inThe Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.:The Century Co.,→OCLC.
- “incline”, inOneLook Dictionary Search.
incline
- inflection ofincliner:
- first/third-personsingularpresentindicative/subjunctive
- second-personsingularimperative
incline
- inflection ofinclinar:
- first/third-personsingularpresentsubjunctive
- third-personsingularimperative
- IPA(key): /inˈkli.ne/
- Rhymes:-ine
- Hyphenation:in‧clì‧ne
incline (pluralinclini)
- inclined,prone
- Synonyms:facile,propenso
incline
- inflection ofinclinar:
- first/third-personsingularpresentsubjunctive
- third-personsingularimperative
incline
- inflection ofinclinar:
- first/third-personsingularpresentsubjunctive
- third-personsingularimperative
