INCLINING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does inclining mean? 

• INCLINING (noun)
  The noun INCLINING has 1 sense:

1. the act of inclining; bending forward

  Familiarity information: INCLINING used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INCLINING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of inclining; bending forward

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

inclination; inclining

Context example:

an inclination of his head indicated his agreement

Hypernyms ("inclining" is a kind of...):

motility; motion; move; movement (a change of position that does not entail a change of location)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "inclining"):

bob (a short abrupt inclination (as of the head))

nod (the act of nodding the head)

stoop (an inclination of the top half of the body forward and downward)

Derivation:

incline (lower or bend (the head or upper body), as in a nod or bow)

incline (bend or turn (one's ear) towards a speaker in order to listen well)

 Context examples 

You will be glad to hear (inclining his head, and whispering seriously) that my uncle means to give her all my aunt's jewels.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

I have indeed observed the same disposition among most of the mathematicians I have known in Europe, although I could never discover the least analogy between the two sciences; unless those people suppose, that because the smallest circle has as many degrees as the largest, therefore the regulation and management of the world require no more abilities than the handling and turning of a globe; but I rather take this quality to spring from a very common infirmity of human nature, inclining us to be most curious and conceited in matters where we have least concern, and for which we are least adapted by study or nature.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

If I did simply follow my inclining I would do now, at this moment, what is to be done; but there are other things to follow, and things that are thousand times more difficult in that them we do not know.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Theer's been kiender a blessing fell upon us, said Mr. Peggotty, reverentially inclining his head, and we've done nowt but prosper. That is, in the long run. If not yesterday, why then today. If not today, why then tomorrow.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

She broke forth as never moon yet burst from cloud: a hand first penetrated the sable folds and waved them away; then, not a moon, but a white human form shone in the azure, inclining a glorious brow earthward.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)