Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Reflect
Re-flect′
(r?-fl?kt′)
, Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Reflected
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Reflecting
.] 1.
To bend back; to give a backwa[GREEK]d turn to; to throw back; especially, to cause to return after striking upon any surface;
as, a mirror
reflects
rays of light; polished metals reflect
heat.Let me mind the reader to
reflect
his eye on our quotations. Fuller.
Bodies close together
reflect
their own color. Dryden.
2.
To give back an image or likeness of; to mirror.
Nature is the glass
As by the sea
reflecting
God,As by the sea
reflected
is the sun. Young.
Re-flect′
Verb.
I.
1.
To throw back light, heat, or the like; to return rays or beams.
2.
To be sent back; to rebound as from a surface; to revert; to return.
Whose virtues will, I hope,
Reflect
on Rome, as Titan’s rays on earth. Shakespeare
3.
To throw or turn back the thoughts upon anything; to contemplate. Specifically: To attend earnestly to what passes within the mind; to attend to the facts or phenomena of consciousness; to use attention or earnest thought; to meditate; especially, to think in relation to moral truth or rules.
We can not be said to
reflect
upon any external object, except so far as that object has been previously perceived, and its image become part and parcel of our intellectual furniture. Sir W. Hamilton.
All men are concious of the operations of their own minds, at all times, while they are awake, but there few who
reflect
upon them, or make them objects of thought. Reid.
As I much
reflected
, much I mourned. Prior.
4.
To cast reproach; to cause censure or dishonor.
Errors of wives
reflect
on husbands still. Dryden.
Neither do I
reflect
in the least upon the memory of his late majesty. Swift.
Syn. – To consider; think; cogitate; mediate; contemplate; ponder; muse; ruminate.
Webster 1828 Edition
Reflect
REFLECT'
,Verb.
T.
To throw back; to return. In the rainbow, the rays of light are reflected as well as refracted.
Bodies close together reflect their own color.
REFLECT'
, v.i.1.
To throw back light; to return rays or beams; as a reflecting mirror or gem.2.
To bend back.3.
To throw or turn back the thoughts upon the past operations of the mind or upon past events. We reflect with pleasure on a generous or heroic action; we reflect with pain on our follies and vices; we reflect on our former thoughts, meditations and opinions.4.
To consider attentively; to revolve in the mind; to contemplate; as, I will reflect on this subject.And as I much reflected, much I mourn'd.
In every action, reflect upon the end.
[To reflect on things future, is not strictly possible, yet the word is often used as synonymous with meditate and contemplate.]
5.
To bring reproach.Errors of wives reflect on husband still.
To reflect on, to cast censure or reproach.
I do not reflect in the least on the memory of his late majesty.
Definition 2024
reflect
reflect
English
Verb
reflect (third-person singular simple present reflects, present participle reflecting, simple past and past participle reflected)
- (transitive) To bend back (light, etc.) from a surface.
- A mirror reflects the light that shines on it.
- (intransitive) To be bent back (light, etc.) from a surface.
- The moonlight reflected from the surface of water.
- (transitive) To mirror, or show the image of something.
- The shop window reflected his image as he walked past.
- (intransitive) To be mirrored.
- His image reflected from the shop window as he walked past.
- (transitive) To agree with; to closely follow.
- Entries in English dictionaries aim to reflect common usage.
- (transitive) To give evidence of someone's or something's character etc.
- The team's victory reflects the Captain's abilities.
- The teacher's ability reflects well on the school.
- 1992, Rudolf M. Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, page vii
- With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get […]
- (intransitive) To think seriously; to ponder or consider.
- People do that sort of thing every day, without ever stopping to reflect on the consequences.
- 1985, Justin Richards, Option Lock, page 229:
- Not for the first time, he reflected that it was not so much the speeches that strained the nerves as the palaver that went with them.
Synonyms
- See also Wikisaurus:ponder
Derived terms
Terms derived from reflect
Translations
to bend back from a surface
|
|
to be bent back from a surface
to mirror, or show the image of something
|
|
to be mirrored
to give evidence of someone's or something's character etc.
|
to think seriously; to ponder or consider
|