Deflection

How to spell deflection

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce deflection

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does deflection mean?

1. nounThe act of turning something aside from its straight path, or the amount by which it is turned.
2. nounThe act of diverting blame, attention, or a difficult question away from oneself.

Deflection in a sentence

• The goalkeeper got a slight deflection on the ball before it crossed the line.

• Her answer was pure deflection, steering the meeting away from the budget shortfall.

• Engineers measured the deflection of the beam under the heavy load.

• The spokesman relied on deflection rather than admitting the company's mistake.

Where does deflection come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb deflectere, formed from de-, meaning 'away' or 'aside', joined to flectere, meaning 'to bend' or 'to curve'. The literal sense was therefore 'a bending away', the act of turning something off its straight path. English drew on the related Latin noun deflexio and shaped 'deflection' in the early 1600s, originally for the physical turning aside of a moving object or a beam of light. The same flectere root sits inside a whole family of bending words, including 'flexible', 'reflect', and 'inflection', so the spelled 'flect' in the middle is the reliable anchor. Over time the word also picked up a figurative use for steering blame, criticism, or a difficult question away from oneself, but the underlying image of bending aside never changed.

How the word is built

• de- (away, aside)
• flect (from Latin flectere: to bend)
• -ion (noun of action)