GENUFLECT

scrape, kowtow, genuflect

(verb) bend the knees and bow in a servile manner

genuflect

(verb) bend the knees and bow in church or before a religious superior or image

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Verb

genuflect (third-person singular simple present genuflects, present participle genuflecting, simple past and past participle genuflected)

(intransitive, archaic) To bend the knee, as in servitude.

(intransitive) To briefly touch one knee to the ground, typically associated with religious worship.

(intransitive, figurative) To behave in a servile manner; to grovel.

Source: Wiktionary


Gen`u*flect", v. i. [imp. & p. p. Genuflected; p. pr. & vb. n. Genuflecting.] Etym: [See Genuflection.]

Definition: To bend the knee, as in worship.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

27 May 2025

DIRECTIONALITY

(noun) the property of being directional or maintaining a direction; “the directionality of written English is from left to right”


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Coffee Trivia

Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.

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