genuflect
verb
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Today we give reverence to genuflect, which comes from the Late Latin word genuflectere, formed from the noun genu ("knee") and the verb flectere ("to bend"). Flectere appears in the etymologies of a number of more common verbs, such as reflect ("to bend or throw back light") and deflect ("to turn aside"). By comparison genu has seen little use in English, but it did give us geniculate, a word 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 related (genius directly, and genuine indirectly) to the Latin verb gignere, meaning "to beget."
Examples of genuflect in a Sentence
Eric Vilas-Boas, Vulture, 7 Aug. 2024
Harris has benefited greatly from her overnight installation as the Democratic nominee, which spared her the need to genuflect so conspicuously to the political left.
—Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times, 22 Sep. 2024
Lovers of Confederate Americana, meanwhile, genuflect at the first White House of the Confederacy.
—Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2024
And while genuflecting before the Reagan myth, Trump could not have been more different—an angry, pessimistic figure who warned that America was doomed and promised a return to a mythic past.
—CBS News, 23 Mar. 2024
See all Example Sentences for genuflect 
Dictionary Entries Near genuflect
Cite this Entry
“Genuflect.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/genuflect. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
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genuflect
verb
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