genuflect
verb (formal)Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they genuflect | |
| he / she / it genuflects | |
| past simple genuflected | |
| past participle genuflected | |
| -ing form genuflecting |
- [intransitive]
to move your body into a lower position by bending one or both knees, as a sign of respect in a church （在教堂礼拜时）跪拜，单膝跪拜 - [intransitive] genuflect (to somebody/something) (disapproving)
to show too much respect to somebody/something 卑躬屈膝
Word Originmid 17th cent. (in the sense ‘bend (the knee)’): from ecclesiastical Latin genuflectere, from Latin genu ‘knee’ + flectere ‘to bend’.