recline

UK/ɹɪˈklaɪn/US/ɹɪˈklaɪn/

verbB2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,325 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: reclining, reclined, reclines

To recline is to tilt a seat backwards. Recline the seat, fully reclined, recline your chair.

On a plane it is a small war: the space belongs to the person in front by design and to the person behind in practice, and there is no settled etiquette. Reclining also means lying back generally. Note incline and decline, from the same Latin verb meaning to lean.

Definitions of recline

1verbreclineTo tilt a seat backwards.B2
“Would you mind if I reclined my seat a little?”

recline is a leaning back.

Where it comes from

Latin reclinare is re plus clinare, to lean. Incline, decline and climate come from the same leaning.

Proto-Indo-European
*ḱley-
Latin
reclino — to bend back
English, today
recline

Borrowed from Latin reclino (“to bend back”). Compare decline, incline.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Airport & Flying

Practise this word

recline in the wild

Many power seats allow occupants to adjust the seat lumbar or seatback recline, all at the push of a button or flick of a switch.
Power seat
A recliner is an armchair or sofa that reclines when the occupant lowers the chair's back and raises its front.
Recliner
A recliner is also known as a reclining chair, lounger and an armchair.
Recliner
Great British Mobility Group Ltd. was a U.K based company that supplied mobility aids such as electric adjustable beds and rise and recline chairs.
Great British Mobility Group
Class 3 rest facility: This class only requires a cabin seat that is able to recline and has foot support.
Crew rest compartment

1 / 2

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

← Vocabulary