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

Still, Gibbs thinks the stock trades at a reasonable valuation relative to peers and that the company is at an inflection point. —Lisa Kailai Han, CNBC, 11 Feb. 2025

Every win the team notches lessens their odds of securing a high pick in the next draft, an inflection point for a team in the midst of a rebuild and still searching for star power. —Kale Williams, Axios, 4 Feb. 2025

Direct air capture is at an inflection point that could break a number of different ways. —Matt Reynolds, WIRED, 10 Jan. 2025

One indicator of labor market inflection points is recruiters. —Lydia Depillis, New York Times, 10 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1708, in the meaning defined at sense 2