incline

present singular third person inclines · participle present inclining · participle past inclined · past inclined · alternative obsolete encline

1. transitiveTo bend or move (something) out of a given plane or direction, often the horizontal or vertical.

   The people following the coffin inclined their heads in grief.

   1 more example

   He had to incline his body against the gusts to avoid being blown down in the storm.

2. intransitiveTo slope.

   Over the centuries the wind made the walls of the farmhouse incline.

3. intransitivechiefly passive voiceTo tend to do or believe something, or move or be moved in a certain direction, away from a point of view, attitude, etc.

   He inclines to believe anything he reads in the newspapers.

   3 more examples

   I'm inclined to give up smoking after hearing of the risks to my health.

   "My tastes," he said, still smiling, "incline me to the garishly sunlit side of this planet." And, to tease her and arouse her to combat: "I prefer a farandole to a nocturne; I'd rather have a painting than an etching; Mr. Whistler bores me with his monochromatic mud; I don't like dull colours, dull sounds, dull intellects;[…]."

   1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC

   The terp farmer made use of the plough, as is shown by the discovery of three ploughshares and four coulters. […] Those who inclined to the stock-breeding theory based their arguments on the absence of ploughs, […].

   1966, J. M. G. van der Poel, "Agriculture in Pre- and Protohistoric Times", in the Acta Historiae Neerlandica published by the Netherlands Committee of Historical Sciences, p.170

   Synonyms: dispose

plural inclines · alternative obsolete encline

1. A slope.

   To reach the building, we had to climb a steep incline.

   1 more example

   The incline can be altered to any grade so as to suit the weight of the door or gate to which the butt is attached.

   1847, editorial staff, “Improved Adjustable Incline Door and Gate Butt”, in Scientific American, series 1, Volume 3, Issue 9, page 68

2. A portal of a subway tunnel.

   the Pleasant Street Incline