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🛤️ A slope 🤔 To tend ⛰️ To slope 🙇 To bend down
to incline

to incline

5 4.1
To be likely to do something or to make someone feel that way
  • verb
  • /ɪnˈklaɪn/
translation icon : tender a
  • The noble souls of these Indians incline towards music.
  • reasons that incline
  • disposition that inclines
  • inclines each individual

One person will still incline to readily to outbursts of rage.

Examples

  • The problem is not merely that the constitutional text inclines the Court toward laissez-faire.

    Academic text (1992)

  • We veteran journalists do not incline to superstition; a healthy skepticism, to put it mildly, goes with the territory.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Without these changes, the world will incline to making the human person an instrument of society.

    Academic text (1993)

  • Thus, they incline the student, when he learns little, to blame the teacher rather than himself.

    Academic text (1993)

  • What were you inclined to when you were a child?

  • The product page says it is built like a tank, and actually we're inclined to agree.

  • Proponents argue that both liberty and social welfare incline us in the direction of a market.

  • The passage of four years since his last contact with Fetko had done little to incline him to forgiveness.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • I think there is something in the Italian landscape which inclines even the most stolid to romance.

    A Room with a View (1986)

  • Many students are inclined to study harder when they see their grades improving.

Synonyms

to tend
vsto incline
∞ 1.9

To often do something or behave in a certain way

includes personal willingness and can actively cause someone to feel that way
to motivate
vsto incline
437 3.5

Make someone want to do something

focuses on having or showing willingness not on supplying reasons or incentives
to lean
vsto incline
205 3.7

To tend to support one choice or opinion

is broader describing general willingness or a habitual tendency to act
to arouse
vsto incline
57 4.1

Cause a feeling or strong reaction in people

is narrower focusing on readiness to act or willingness rather than general feelings
to induce
vsto incline
51 4.9

Persuade someone to do something

is often about a natural tendency or willingness rather than active persuasion
to dispose
vsto incline
  • Formal
20 6.6

Make someone likely to do or accept something

also covers having a personal tendency not only causing willingness in others
to predispose
vsto incline
6 6.9

To make someone more likely to have a condition or behave in a certain way

is more about personal willingness or tendency rather than passive susceptibility

Compounds

incline bench press
  • Specialized
5.5

An exercise pressing a barbell or dumbbells up on a sloping bench to work the upper chest

How Willing

to incline
5 4.1
to hesitate
318 2.5
to refuse
4 9.2

Surface Forms

incline infinitive
inclined past
inclined past participle
inclining present participle
inclines third person singular

Etymology

The word incline comes from the root clinare, which means 'to lean'. A helpful way to remember this meaning is to think of 'leaning' toward an idea: if you incline to something, you are more likely to feel or choose it.