retroflection

Other forms of retroflection

plural

retroflections·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about retroflection

What does retroflection mean?

retroflection means "a turning or tilting backward of an organ or body part". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in retroflection?

retroflection has 5 syllables and divides as re-tro-flec-ti-on under the regular spelling rules. It is not in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, so that comes from how the word is written rather than from a recorded pronunciation, and no stress or phonetic transcription is claimed for it.

What is another word for retroflection?

Close synonyms include retroversion, retroflexion, retroflexion, retroflexion. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is retroflection a common word?

retroflection is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.