Reflect
verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 To bend back (light, etc.) from a surface. transitive
"A mirror reflects the light that shines on it."
- 2 reflect deeply on a subject wordnet
- 3 To be bent back (light, etc.) from a surface. intransitive
"The moonlight reflected from the surface of water."
- 4 give evidence of the quality of wordnet
- 5 To mirror, or show the image of something. transitive
"The shop window reflected his image as he walked past."
Show 9 more definitions
- 6 give evidence of a certain behavior wordnet
- 7 To be mirrored. intransitive
"His image reflected from the shop window as he walked past."
- 8 to throw or bend back (from a surface) wordnet
- 9 To agree with; to closely follow. transitive
"Entries in English dictionaries aim to reflect common usage."
- 10 show an image of wordnet
- 11 To give evidence of someone's or something's character etc. transitive
"The team's victory reflects the Captain's abilities."
- 12 manifest or bring back wordnet
- 13 To think seriously; to ponder or consider. intransitive
"People do that sort of thing every day, without ever stopping to reflect on the consequences."
- 14 be bright by reflecting or casting light wordnet
Example
More examples"Please change your database to reflect the new address as follows."
Etymology
From Old French reflecter (“to bend back, turn back”), from Latin reflectō (“I reflect”), from re- (“again”) + flectō (“I bend, I curve”). Compare English reflex.
Related phrases
More for "reflect"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.