Reflexive

//ɹɪˈflɛksɪv// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A reflexive pronoun.
  2. 2
    a personal pronoun compounded with ‘-self’ to show the agent's action affects the agent wordnet
  3. 3
    A reflexive verb.
Adjective
  1. 1
    Referring back to the subject, or having an object equal to the subject. not-comparable
  2. 2
    Of a relation R on a set S, such that xRx for all members x of S (that is, the relation holds between any element of the set and itself). not-comparable

    ""Equals" is a reflexive relation, as it holds for all possible x; "not less" is non-reflexive because it is true only for some x and y, "unequal" is irreflexive, as it never holds between x and itself."

  3. 3
    Of or resulting from a reflex. not-comparable

    "The electric shock elicited an automatic and reflexive response from him."

  4. 4
    Producing immediate response, spontaneous. figuratively, not-comparable

    "a reflexive dislike"

  5. 5
    Producing or provoking a reciprocal response. not-comparable

    "Shoigu's thinly veiled nuclear threats against NATO are part of the Kremlin's broader reflexive control campaign to influence Western decision-making in Russia's favor and against Western states' own interests. Shoigu's nuclear threats are attempts to push European states to self-deter and reduce their buildups of their defenses – leaving NATO's eastern border largely undefended. These reflexive control efforts are in line with Russian President Vladimir Putin's 2021 demand before launching his full-scale invasion of Ukraine that NATO not deploy any military forces to states that became NATO members after 1997, including Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland."

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  1. 6
    Synonym of reflective. not-comparable
Adjective
  1. 1
    referring back to itself wordnet
  2. 2
    without volition or conscious control wordnet

Example

More examples

"The relationship "A loves B" is not reflexive, transitive, or symmetric."

Etymology

From Medieval Latin reflexīvus, from Latin reflexus, equivalent to reflex + -ive.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.