inflection point

noun

1

: a moment when significant change occurs or may occur : turning point

At 18, Bobby is at an inflection point that will largely determine the course of his life.

—Stacy Perman

… the gradual move away from big-iron machines toward work stations and personal computers has been going on for years in corporate America—but the inflection point came suddenly.

—Steve Lohr

It depends on us, on the choices we make, particularly at certain inflection points in history; particularly when big changes are happening and everything seems up for grabs.

—Barack Obama

2

mathematics : a point on a curve that separates an arc concave upward from one concave downward and vice versa

Examples of inflection point in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The bottom line The longevity industry is at an inflection point. —Peter Bendor-Samuel, Forbes.com, 11 Apr. 2025

Repeatedly, the market tried to make something of several logical, if a bit neat-and-tidy, inflection points. —Michael Santoli, CNBC, 5 Apr. 2025

The bottom line: The once-in-a-century transformation of the auto industry has reached an inflection point. —Joann Muller, Axios, 19 Mar. 2025

That happens sometimes – two people grow apart, and a quality that once was easy to overlook becomes an inflection point. —Eric Thomas, Baltimore Sun, 9 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1708, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for inflection point

• adjoint
• anoint
• appoint
• checkpoint
• conjoint
• disjoint
• endpoint
• gunpoint
• midpoint
• nonpoint
• pinpoint
• standpoint