What does incline mean?
Word: Incline
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: Incline means to lean or tilt in a direction; also, to make someone tend towards a feeling or choice. As a noun, an incline is a rising stretch of ground or road.
Synonyms: lean, tilt
How do you spell incline?
Syllables: in - cline
Tricky part: It begins with in, not en, and ends with a silent e after the n.
Watch out for: encline, inclyne, incliene
Memory tip: Decline, recline and incline belong to one family: the -cline part comes from the Latin for leaning, and only the first letters change.
Incline in a sentence
Example 1: The path inclines gently towards the fort at the top of the hill.
Example 2: His good manners incline me to trust him.
Example 3: Cyclists slowed down on the steep incline near the dam.
Fun Fact
The inclined plane, which is simply a ramp, is one of the six classical simple machines, along with the lever, the pulley, the wedge, the screw and the wheel and axle.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Only one word in the list is spelt correctly. Choose the meaning of that word:
1. accelarate 2. slippry 3. gradiant 4. incline
a) to go faster and faster
b) smooth and hard to stand on
c) to tilt, or to lean towards a choice
d) how steep a hill or road is
Show answer
c) to tilt, or to lean towards a choice. Gradiant has the wrong vowel before its nt, slippry has lost a vowel in its middle, and accelarate has an a where an e belongs.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word incline as used in the sentence:
The road begins to incline sharply after the last tea estate, so most cyclists get off and push.
a) narrow
b) slope
c) curve
d) flatten
Show answer
b) slope. A road that inclines slopes upwards; flatten is the opposite.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence to form a meaningful word:
Push the trolley slowly up the einnlic so the boxes do not slide off.
a) incline
b) ceiling
c) linen
d) decline
Show answer
a) incline. The jumble has no d or g, so decline and ceiling are out, and linen is too short.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
The old farm cart moved slowly up the incline to the village well, its wheels creaking under the wieght of the rice sacks.
a) incline
b) creaking
c) village
d) wieght
Show answer
d) wieght. Weight is one of the words that break i before e: its vowels are ei, as in eight.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. 'I incline to believe her story' means ____.
a) I told her the story
b) I tend to believe her
c) I have never heard her
d) I refuse to believe her
Show answer
b) I tend to believe her
2. In which sentence is incline used as a noun?
a) Her kindness inclines me to help.
b) Our bus crawled up a long, winding incline.
c) I incline towards the second plan.
d) The path inclines past the school.
Show answer
b) Our bus crawled up a long, winding incline.
