incline - Dictionary Definition : Vocabulary.com

Something that slopes — that is, something that deviates from the straight horizontal or vertical — can be called an incline. If you like to walk up and down hills, you enjoy walking on inclines.

The Latin root of the word incline is inclinare, meaning "to lean." As a verb, the word incline can mean to bend, so you incline your head. It can also mean to be favorably disposed toward something and you can think of it as having a bent for or leaning toward something. If the weather is nasty, you may be inclined to stay home to watch a movie with a bowl of popcorn at your side.

PRIMARY MEANINGS OF: incline

1	v n	lower or bend (the head or upper body), as in a nod or bow an inclined surface connecting two levels
2	v	have a tendency or disposition to do or be something; be inclined

FULL DEFINITIONS OF: incline

1

v lower or bend (the head or upper body), as in a nod or bow

“She inclined her head to the student”

Type of:: bring down, get down, let down, lower, take down
move something or somebody to a lower position

v bend or turn (one's ear) towards a speaker in order to listen well

“He inclined his ear to the wise old man”

Type of:: hear, listen, take heed
listen and pay attention

v be at an angle

Synonyms:: pitch, slope

Types:: show 5 types...; hide 5 types...; ascend
slope upwards; stoop
sag, bend, bend over or down; fall
slope downward; climb
slope upward; dip
slope downwards

Type of:: angle, lean, slant, tilt, tip
to incline or bend from a vertical position

n an inclined surface connecting two levels

Synonyms:: ramp

Types:: ski jump
a steep downward ramp from which skiers jump

Type of:: inclined plane
a simple machine for elevating objects; consists of plane surface that makes an acute angle with the horizontal

n an elevated geological formation

Synonyms:: side, slope

Types:: show 17 types...; hide 17 types...; acclivity, ascent, climb, raise, rise, upgrade
an upward slope or grade (as in a road); bank
sloping land (especially the slope beside a body of water); bank, camber, cant
a slope in the turn of a road or track; the outside is higher than the inside in order to reduce the effects of centrifugal force; canyonside
the steeply sloping side of a canyon; coast
a slope down which sleds may coast; declension, declination, decline, declivity, descent, downslope, fall
a downward slope or bend; escarpment, scarp
a long steep slope or cliff at the edge of a plateau or ridge; usually formed by erosion; hillside
the side or slope of a hill; mountainside, versant
the side or slope of a mountain; piedmont
a gentle slope leading from the base of a mountain to a region of flat land; ski slope
a snow-covered slope for skiing; brae
a slope or hillside; downhill
the downward slope of a hill; riverbank, riverside
the bank of a river; steep
a steep place (as on a hill); uphill
the upward slope of a hill; waterside
land bordering a body of water

Type of:: formation, geological formation
(geology) the geological features of the earth

2

v have a tendency or disposition to do or be something; be inclined

“He inclined to corpulence”

Synonyms:: be given, lean, run, tend

Types:: take kindly to
be willing or inclined to accept; suffer
be given to; gravitate
move toward

Type of:: be
have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)

v feel favorably disposed or willing

“She inclines to the view that people should be allowed to expres their religious beliefs”

Type of:: experience, feel
undergo an emotional sensation or be in a particular state of mind

v make receptive or willing towards an action or attitude or belief

“Their language inclines us to believe them”

Synonyms:: dispose

Antonyms:: disincline, indispose
make unwilling

Types:: predispose
make susceptible

Type of:: determine, influence, mold, regulate, shape
shape or influence; give direction to