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retroflex - 4 dictionary results

ret⋅ro⋅flex

  [re-truh-fleks]
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–adjective
1. bent backward; exhibiting retroflexion.
2. Phonetics. articulated with the tip of the tongue curled upward and back against or near the juncture of the hard and soft palates; cacuminal; cerebral; coronal.
Also, ret⋅ro⋅flexed  [re-truh-flekst] .

Origin:
1910–15; < L retrōflexus (ptp. of retrōflectere to bend back). See retro-, flex 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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ret·ro·flex   (rět'rə-flěks')   
adj.   also ret·ro·flexed (-flěkst')
  1. Bent, curved, or turned backward.
  2. Pronounced with the tip of the tongue turned back against the roof of the mouth.
n.  A sound pronounced with the tongue in retroflex position, as the sound (r) in some varieties of English.

[Latin *retrōflexus, past participle of retrōflectere, to bend back : retrō, retro- + flectere, to bend.]
ret'ro·flex'ion, ret'ro·flec'tion n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Retroflex

Re"tro*flex\, Retroflexed \Re"tro*flexed\, a. [Pref. retro- + L. flectere, flexum, to bend, to turn.] Reflexed; bent or turned abruptly backward.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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retroflex

in phonetics, a consonant sound produced with the tip of the tongue curled back toward the hard palate. In Russian the sounds sh, zh (like the English s sound in "pleasure"), and shch are retroflex; there are also many retroflex consonants in the languages of India.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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