Make Your Point: GENUFLECT

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pronounce GENUFLECT:

JEN you flekt

connect this word to others:

If you've seen the musical Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, you might remember the part where all the brothers come and kneel before Joseph to beg him for help. Joseph is wealthy and powerful, and the brothers are poor and starving. They sing out a list of synonyms:

"Grovel, grovel, cringe, bow, stoop, fall.
Worship, worship, beg, kneel, sponge, crawl."

They could have added genuflect in there, but it'd throw off the rhythm.

Or k__t__. Can you recall that synonym? In the most literal sense, it means "to kneel down so low that your forehead actually touches the ground."

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definition:

(Source)

"Genuflect" has Latin bits that literally mean "to bend the knee." (Genu is "knee;" flectere is "to bend.") That's what it's meant in English for hundreds of years.

To genuflect is to bend down on one or both knees, often as a way of showing deep respect or even worship.

And in a more abstract sense, to genuflect to things or people is to obey them or worship them, as if you're bowing down to them.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Verb, the intransitive kind: "He genuflects to them;" "She genuflected before them;" "They all genuflect to their leader."

Other forms:

The other verb forms are "genuflected" and "genuflecting."

For a noun for the action of bending down, literally or figuratively, you can pick between "genuflection" (my preference) and "genuflexion."

People who genuflect are "genuflectors."

And there's a rare adjective: "genuflectory."

And for fun, here's a brand new adjective: "genuflexible." It's for people who'll readily genuflect to anyone and anything. Do you think we can make it catch on?

how to use it:

When you want a formal word that harshly criticizes people's unthinking or unwise loyalty or obedience, say that they're genuflecting, often to someone (or something). "He thinks we're all just genuflecting to wokeness."

You could get more mockingly grandiose and say that someone is genuflecting before someone, or at the altar of such-and-such. "He thinks we're genuflecting before wokeness." "Okay, sure: I genuflect at the altar of wokeness."

examples:

"California's political leaders, particularly Democrats, still genuflect toward [Silicon] Valley for economic salvation and job growth. "
— Joel Kotkin, Forbes, 12 October 2011

"Make way, here he comes, ring bells, bang the drums!
Oh, you're gonna love this guy!
Prince Ali, fabulous he, Ali Ababwa.
Genuflect, show some respect,
Down on one knee."
— Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, Aladdin, 1992

has this page helped you understand "genuflect"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "genuflect" without saying "bend the knee" or "slavishly obey."

try it out:

In How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, the narrator describes how her art tutor makes her feel obligated to genuflect:

"Before us stood a mountain of a woman who looked even more imposing because of the brightly colored Hawaiian shift she wore. Exotic crimson flowers and birds poked their pistils and stamens and bills every which way up and down her torso. Her face was a pile of white cloud afire with red hair... I nodded and curtsied. We all curtsied. But it was more like genuflecting in her presence."

There's a similar dynamic between the narrator and his boss in The Other Wes Moore:

"Despite my being on my second internship with him and seeing him every day, the mayor still intimidated me. Every time I stepped into his office, I felt the need to genuflect."

Have you ever felt this way in the presence of some commanding boss, teacher, or other authority? If so, talk about what it was like. If not, do you think you've ever made others feel like they should genuflect to you?

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for this month is "The LOL Is In the Details."

I'll give you a vague version of a quote from a funny writer or speaker, then prompt you to liven it up with detail. To see the original quote, scroll all the way down.

Here's an example:

"Don't order any of the faerie food… It tends to make humans a little crazy. One minute you’re snacking, the next minute you’re doing something insane."

Snacking on what? Doing what?

You might say, "One minute you’re sampling a mushroom tart, the next minute you’re doing the Macarena."

And the writer's original version was "One minute you're munching on a faerie plum, the next minute you're running naked down Madison Avenue with antlers on your head."
— Cassandra Clare, City of Bones, 2007

Try this one today:

"Housework didn't do a lot for her, either. Neither did the women who talked about it. She refused to get excited just because someone had found a good way to clean up a mess."

Get excited how? What kind of mess?

review this word:

1. Near opposites of GENUFLECT include

A. CREATE and ENGENDER.
B. REIGN and OVERTHROW.
C. STIFFEN and RAILROAD.

2. In Endgame: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Bobby Fischer, Frank Brady wrote that "when Bobby's plane touched down at Keflavik Airport, and he stepped on the tarmac, he didn't _____—at least, not literally. Metaphorically, however, he genuflected to the land of the Vikings."

A. roll his eyes at the crowd
B. kneel down and kiss the ground
C. lift his middle finger to the landscape

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
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From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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Make Your Point > Archived Issues > GENUFLECT

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.