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

But the pickup truck and sedan assault outside the fortress city of Pokrovsk this week may have marked an inflection point. —David Axe, Forbes, 21 Dec. 2024

The bank sees the makings of a turnaround story for SolarEdge, with 2025 being a key inflection point. —Alex Harring, CNBC, 17 Dec. 2024

Their relationship is the inflection point for Down and Kay to really have a go at their targets as Yasmin taps into her inner Machiavelli. —Carole Horst, Variety, 14 Dec. 2024

The big picture: Syria's 2011 uprising marked an inflection point in the history of global conflict, wedged between the Iraq War in 2003 and Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. —Zachary Basu, Axios, 10 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1708, in the meaning defined at sense 2