Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To bend (something pliant or elastic).
  • intransitive verb To bend (a joint).
  • intransitive verb To bend (a joint) repeatedly.
  • intransitive verb To contract (a muscle, for example).
  • intransitive verb To move by muscular control.
  • intransitive verb To exhibit or show off the strength of.
  • intransitive verb To bend.
  • noun Chiefly British Flexible insulated electric cord.
  • noun The act or an instance of flexing; a bending.
  • noun Flexibility.
  • idiom (flex (one's) muscles) To exhibit or show off one's strength.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A point of contrary flexure or a point of inflexion.
  • noun An obsolete variant of flax.
  • To bend; make a flexure of: specifically said in anatomy of the action of any flexor muscle.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To bend.
  • noun obsolete Flax.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun uncountable Flexibility, pliancy.
  • noun countable The act of flexing.
  • noun uncountable, chiefly UK Any flexible insulated electrical wiring.
  • noun countable, geometry A point of inflection.
  • verb To bend something.
  • verb To repeatedly bend one of one's joints.
  • verb To move part of the body using one's muscles.
  • verb bodybuilding To tighten the muscles for display of size or strength.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb contract
  • verb cause (a plastic object) to assume a crooked or angular form
  • verb form a curve
  • noun the act of flexing
  • verb bend a joint
  • verb exhibit the strength of

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin flectere, flex-, to bend.]

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Examples

  • CLANCY: And it's a whole industry, because you've to have your cars -- in Brazil, you find most of the cars are what they call flex vehicles, so they can either run on ethanol, or they can run on regular unleaded gas.

    CNN Transcript Mar 9, 2007 2007

  • If you wanted all this dynamic html content you should have went with adobe flash (flex is da bomb).

    New Site: Post Your Feedback Here 2009

  • If you wanted all this dynamic html content you should have went with adobe flash (flex is da bomb).

    New Site: Post Your Feedback Here 2009

  • They run deeper than Rules, allow for a bit of flex (let's face it, there isn't a Rule for every situation and sometimes flex is needed to allow for times when you need to bend one place to keep something more important intact), but still provide some boundaries, a compass for making good choices.

    Parental Guidance Advised kittenpie 2006

  • They run deeper than Rules, allow for a bit of flex (let's face it, there isn't a Rule for every situation and sometimes flex is needed to allow for times when you need to bend one place to keep something more important intact), but still provide some boundaries, a compass for making good choices.

    Archive 2006-10-01 kittenpie 2006

  • Challenging him made his expression flex with what she had then sensed and now knew to be hunger.

    Wicked Pleasures Leigh, Lora 2008

  • Then two soldiers on the ground led a hooded figure, his hands tied in flex cuffs and a number scrawled on his back, to the helicopter.

    Imperial Grunts 2005

  • You can do that with flash its called flex and flash media server.

    Ice Cube: Straight Outta Redmond 2007

  • Then two soldiers on the ground led a hooded figure, his hands tied in flex cuffs and a number scrawled on his back, to the helicopter.

    Imperial Grunts 2005

  • She said both she and the Assembly were opposed to the governor's proposed cuts: "He calls it flex-aid, we call it flex-cuts."

    Living in Dryden: March 2004 Archives 2004

  • As the New York rental market is so expensive, some people “flex” – a one-bed apartment is converted into a two‑bed by using the living room as a bedroom.

    How we live together: the ‘flex’ flatmates Kiran Sidhu 2019

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