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genuflect

[jen-yoo-flekt] / ˈdʒɛn jʊˌflɛkt /
VERB
kneel
Synonyms


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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Shows like “Top Chef” teach us to genuflect at the altars of celebrity culinarians, viewing their restaurants and signature dishes as luxury experiences as opposed to showing regular folks how to think innovatively about dinner.

From Salon ● Jan. 30, 2026

But beyond the ambition to warp genres, he’s also refused to genuflect to industry conventions, especially ones for Spanish-speaking artists.

From New York Times ● May 6, 2022

It appeared in one of the thousands of recently released emails in which Dr. Fauci asserts in part: “I genuflect to no one but science.”

From Washington Post ● Jun. 17, 2021

“Instead, the faithful are requested to genuflect or make a profound bow as they venerate the cross,” said Archbishop Romulo Valles, who heads the bishops’ conference.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 26, 2020

If I do it just right, the crowd gasps aloud — they genuflect, weep, stretch their hands out, and touch.

From "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village" by Laura Amy Schlitz

Mapplethorpe genuflects at the altar of that icon with a platinum portrait of Warhol, backed by a halo of light and surrounded by silk panels that form a cross.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025

Without anything divine to revere, American home and landscape design largely genuflects at the altar of the market.

From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2025

The woman who holds the head genuflects with her soaking parcel.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 22, 2020

That it is an expressly Catholic organization, holding no territory, with its leaders bound by a vow of obedience to the Roman pontiff suggests, however, that this is a sovereignty that genuflects.

From The New Yorker ● Feb. 1, 2017

During the Mass the priest frequently makes the Sign of the Cross, genuflects or bends the knee before the altar, strikes his breast, etc.

From Baltimore Catechism, No. 4 An Explanation of the Baltimore Catechism of Christian Doctrine by Thomas L. Kinkead

He hired people because they genuflected to him, not because they had any expertise.

From Salon ● Mar. 29, 2023

“Everybody sort of genuflected to Hazel because she was this little dynamo,” said David Peterson, a former Liberal premier of Ontario between 1985 and 1990.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 11, 2022

At the biggest annual festival in Gbaramatu, women danced and genuflected before the king.

From New York Times ● Jul. 25, 2021

I don’t recall whether we rose and genuflected upon the arrival of Big John, but doing so would’ve been appropriate.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 2, 2020

Alex genuflected at the cross, then knelt in one of the pews.

From "The Dead and the Gone" by Susan Beth Pfeffer

The clip in question sees Deen sitting in the “Today Show” studio, practically genuflecting to the camera after being grilled for 15 straight minutes on live television.

From Salon ● Sep. 7, 2025

The figures, dubbed the “kneeling attendants” by curators, crouch as if genuflecting.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 5, 2021

At the Los Angeles Central Library, the Oaxacan collective Tlacolulokos painted a glorious mural depicting contemporary Indigenous Zapotec culture, supplanting the library’s mural from 1933, which showed Native Americans genuflecting to European colonialists.

From New York Times ● Sep. 2, 2020

“I’d rather this whole thing just be over,” he said as he peeled off his mask after genuflecting toward the tabernacle, passing Cowles and walking out of church on a recent Sunday.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2020

“Sorrento has tried everything but genuflecting, doing a little dance, and sticking his pinky finger in the keyhole.”

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline




Vocabulary lists containing genuflect


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