Recline
noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A mechanism for lowering the back of a seat to support a less upright position; Also, the action of lowering the back using such a mechanism.
"To gain a little more space, airlines are turning to a new generation of seats that use lighter materials and less padding, moving the magazine pocket above the tray table and even reducing or eliminating the recline in seats."
- 1 To cause to lean back; to bend back. transitive
- 2 lean in a comfortable resting position wordnet
- 3 To put in a resting position. transitive
"She reclined her arms on the table and sighed."
- 4 cause to recline wordnet
- 5 To lean back. intransitive
"to recline against a wall"
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- 6 move the upper body backwards and down wordnet
- 7 To put oneself in a resting position. intransitive
"to recline on a couch"
Example
More examples"Aeolus spoke thus in reply: "It is yours, O queen, to express what you wish; my task is to obey your commands. You grant me control over this kingdom, such as it is, the scepters and Jupiter; you allow me to recline at the feasts of the gods, and to hold the power of the clouds and the storms.""
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin reclīnāre (“to bend back”). Compare decline, incline.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.