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This week’s words
symbiosis
genuflection


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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(jen-yoo-FLEK-shuhn)

MEANING:

noun:
1. The act of bending the knee.
2. Servile deference; groveling.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin genuflectere (to bend the knee), from genu (knee) + flectere (to bend). Earliest documented use: 1526.

NOTES:

A word with one knee in worship and the other in flattery. It can describe a literal act of reverence or a figurative surrender of backbone. A handy term for bending the knee, and sometimes the principles.

USAGE:

“Certain business titans have made Mar-a-Lago a scene of such flagrant self-abnegation, ring-kissing, and genuflection that it would embarrass a medieval Pope.”
David Remnick; Inaugurations; The New Yorker; Jan 20, 2025.

See more usage examples of genuflection in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: