misinflect

English

Etymology

mis- +‎ inflect

Verb

misinflect (third-person singular simple present misinflects, present participle misinflecting, simple past and past participle misinflected)

1. To inflect incorrectly.
   • 1869, The New York Teacher, and the American Educational Monthly, page 264:

     Thus the student is taught from the very beginning to misinflect an important class of German nouns.

   • 1980, Elinor Shaffer, Comparative Criticism:

     In consulting them, the reader should bear in mind that the singers use a variety of hiatus bridges ( j, h, v, etc.; all italicized in text) and not seldom misinflect words (sometimes under the pressure of sound-patterns).

   • 1989 ·, Richard Fleming, Michael Payne, The Senses of Stanley Cavell, page 234:

     This is one reason why one inclines to quotation in discussing his writing . Any paraphrase that even slightly misinflects his descriptions runs the risk of near-total distortion.

   • 1998, Starling Lawrence, Montenegro: A Novel, page 31:

     They managed, in repeating his name like the echoing mountains, to mispronounce or misinflect every syllable of it.