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inflectional system

/ɪnˈflɛkʃənəl ˈsɪstəm/
noun phrase★Intermediate— grammatical system of word forms
technical

A grammatical system that uses inflection (word endings or modifications) to convey grammatical information such as tense, number, gender, or case.

The inflectional system of Russian includes complex case endings.

Russian words change endings to show grammatical roles like subject or object.

English has lost most of its inflectional system over time.

Modern English relies more on word order than word changes.

💡

Inflectional systems vary widely across languages. Some languages (like Latin) have rich inflection, while others (like English) have simplified systems.

Collocations

rich inflectional systema language with many inflectional formssimplified inflectional systema language with few inflectional forms

Synonyms

grammatical systemmorphological system

Antonyms

analytic systemisolating language

Related Phrases

synthetic languagephrase
a language with a rich inflectional system
analytic languagephrase
a language with minimal inflection

💡Pro Tip

Key Concept

Inflectional systems determine how words change to express meaning, such as 'run' (present) vs. 'ran' (past).

⚡Gold Rule

Language Comparison

Languages with rich inflectional systems (e.g., Latin) often have fewer words but more complex word forms.

📖Word Origin

From 'inflection' (modification of a word) + 'system' (organized structure).

📝Usage Notes

The term is primarily used in linguistics to describe how languages encode grammatical relationships through word forms.

Word Breakdown

inflectional
relating to word modification
adjective
+
system
organized structure
noun
English Dictionary

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