REFLECT • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Reflect

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/rəflˈɛkt/ /rɪflˈɛkt/ Listen

verb

Reflect v. t. (past & past part. reflected; pres. part. reflecting)

1.

To bend back; to give a backward 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." "Bodies close together reflect their own color."

2.

To give back an image or likeness of; to mirror. "Nature is the glass reflecting God, As by the sea reflected is the sun."

Reflect v. 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."

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." "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." "As I much reflected, much I mourned."

4.

To cast reproach; to cause censure or dishonor. "Errors of wives reflect on husbands still." "Neither do I reflect in the least upon the memory of his late majesty."

Synonyms: To consider; think; cogitate; mediate; contemplate; ponder; muse; ruminate.

See images of 'Reflect'

Etymology of 'Reflect'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Reflect" Quotes from Famous Books

... booklet wherein, some years earlier, he had given so lively a description of his flight, had not indeed passed unnoticed; but no one seemed to have read it with sufficient attention. Casanova found it amusing to reflect that it lay within his power to help everyone of these young gentlemen to a speedy personal experience of the conditions of prison life in The Leads, and to a realization of the difficulties of escape. He was far, however, ...

— Casanova's Homecoming • Arthur Schnitzler

... which we call beauty. But in order that this transformation may take place, the child must always endeavour to reproduce with due fidelity the more palpable qualities of colour and form. In this endeavour he must bring many faculties into play. He must observe closely and attentively. He must reflect on what he observes. He must reflect on what he himself is doing. He must compare his work with the original, and try to discover how far he has succeeded, and where he has gone astray. The more faithfully he tries to reproduce what he has seen, the clearer and surer will be his insight into the ...

— What Is and What Might Be - A Study of Education in General and Elementary Education in Particular • Edmond Holmes

... shot at, maimed, and killed several birds, and caused serious apprehensions of injury to the flocks of sheep which were peaceably grazing on their respective ranges; now, therefore, this was earnestly to request that all such persons would reflect upon the penalties that would attach to similar acts in their own country, and be thus enabled to perceive the impropriety of pursuing such a course in other countries. Should they fail to observe the aforesaid laws after this warning, they would only have themselves to blame for the unpleasant ...

— The Land of Thor • J. Ross Browne

... most of the forms of mental and physical agony, and know what sacrifices men will make to preserve even an existence that to me seemed little better than death, so long as their intellect remained unclouded. When you come to reflect on the state of mind that chooses death as a preferable alternative, you generally find an exaltation and enthusiasm that differs very little from the ordinary diagnosis of delirium. Smith was not drunk," added the doctor in his usual ...

— The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales • Bret Harte

... is curious to reflect that this country (China) could be rendered completely solvent and the Government provided with a substantial income almost by a stroke of the foreigner's pen, while without that stroke there must be bankruptcy, pure and simple. Despite constant civil war and political chaos, the ...

— The Problem of China • Bertrand Russell

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