reflection

English

Alternative forms

• reflexion

Etymology

From Middle French reflexion, reflection, and its source Late Latin reflexio, from the participle stem of reflectō. The current spelling is influenced by reflect.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈflɛkʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: re‧flec‧tion
• Rhymes: -ɛkʃən

Noun

A water reflection - meanings 2 and 3

reflection (countable and uncountable, plural reflections)

1. The act of reflecting or the state of being reflected.
2. The property of a propagated wave being thrown back from a surface (such as a mirror).
3. Something, such as an image, that is reflected.

   The dog barked at his own reflection in the mirror.

5. Careful thought or consideration.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:consideration

   After careful reflection, I have decided not to vote for that proposition.

   • 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:

     But Richmond, his grandfather's darling, after one thoughtful glance cast under his lashes at that uncompromising countenance appeared to lose himself in his own reflections.

6. An implied criticism.

   It is a reflection on his character that he never came back to see them.

7. (computing) The process or mechanism of determining the capabilities of an object at run-time.
8. (anatomy) The folding of a part; a fold.

Derived terms

• no-reflection
• reflectional
• reflectionless
• reflection-like
• self-reflection

 

Related terms

• reflect
• reflective
• reflector

Translations

act of reflecting; the state of being reflected

• Albanian: reflektim (sq) m
• Arabic: اِنْعِكَاس‎ (ar) m (inʿikās), عَكْس‎ (ar) m (ʿaks)
• Armenian: արտացոլում (hy) (artacʿolum)
• Azerbaijani: əks (az), in'ikas
• Belarusian: адлюстрава́нне n (adljustravánnje), адбіццё n (adbiccjó)
• Bulgarian: отразяване n (otrazjavane)
• Catalan: reflexió (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 反射 (zh) (fǎnshè), 反映 (zh) (fǎnyìng)

• Czech: odraz (cs) m
• Danish: afspejling c, refleksion (da) c
• Dutch: reflectie (nl) f, weerspiegeling (nl) f, weerbeeld (nl) n
• Esperanto: reflekto
• Estonian: peegeldus
• Finnish: heijastuminen (fi), peilaantuminen, peilaus
• French: réflexion (fr) f
• Galician: reflexión f
• Georgian: ანარეკლი (anareḳli)
• German: Reflexion (de) f, Abbild (de) n, Reflektion (de) f
• Greek: αντανάκλαση (el) f (antanáklasi)
• Hebrew: השתקפות‎ f (hishtak'fut)
• Hindi: परावर्तन (hi) m (parāvartan), प्रतिबिंब (hi) m (pratibimb)
• Hungarian: tükröződés (hu), visszatükrözés, visszatükröződés
• Indonesian: pantulan (id)
• Irish: frithchaitheamh m
• Italian: riflessione (it)
• Japanese: 反射 (ja) (はんしゃ, hansha)

• Kazakh: кескін (kk) (keskin)
• Korean: 반사 (ko) (bansa)
• Macedonian: одраз m (odraz)
• Malagasy: fitarafana (mg)
• Malay: pemantulan
• Malayalam: പ്രതിഫലനം (ml) (pratifalanaṃ)
• Maori: whakaatanga, whakaatatanga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: refleksjon m

• Persian: بازتاب‎ (fa) (bâztâb), فرتور‎ (fartur), انعکاس‎ (fa) (en'ekâs), عکس‎ (fa) ('aks)
• Polish: odbicie (pl) n
• Portuguese: reflexão (pt) f
• Romanian: reflectare (ro) f, reflecție (ro) f, reflexie (ro) f
• Russian: отраже́ние (ru) n (otražénije)
• Scottish Gaelic: faileas m, sgàile f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: odbles m, ȍdsjāj (sh) m, odblesak m, ȍdrāz (sh) m

• Slovak: odraz m
• Slovene: odraz m, odboj (sl) m
• Spanish: reflexión (es) f
• Swedish: reflexion (sv)
• Tagalog: sabalik
• Tajik: акс (tg) (aks), инъикос (tg) (inʾikos)
• Thai: การสะท้อน (th)
• Turkish: yansıma (tr)
• Ukrainian: відбиття́ n (vidbyttjá)
• Uzbek: aks (uz)

property of a propagated wave

• Afrikaans: weerkaatsing
• Bulgarian: отражение (bg) n (otraženie)
• Catalan: reflexió (ca) f
• Finnish: peilaantuminen
• German: Reflektion (de) f
• Hungarian: visszaverődés (hu)
• Indonesian: bayangan (id)

• Maori: whakaatanga
• Polish: odbicie (pl) n, refleks (pl) m
• Russian: отраже́ние (ru) n (otražénije)
• Tagalog: sabalik
• Turkish: yansıma (tr)

something that is reflected

• Bulgarian: образ (bg) m (obraz), отражение (bg) n (otraženie)
• Catalan: reflex (ca) m
• Czech: odraz (cs) m
• Esperanto: speguliĝo
• Finnish: peilikuva (fi)
• French: reflet (fr) m
• Galician: reflexo m
• German: Reflektion (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἔμφασις f (émphasis)

• Hungarian: tükörkép (hu)
• Indonesian: cerminan (id)
• Irish: scáil f

• Italian: riflesso (it), riverbero (it)
• Japanese: 反映 (ja) (はんえい, han'ei)
• Malagasy: fitaratra (mg)
• Malay: pantulan (ms)
• Malayalam: പ്രതിബിംബം (ml) (pratibimbaṃ)
• Maori: whakaata
• Polish: odbicie (pl) n
• Portuguese: reflexo (pt) m
• Russian: отраже́ние (ru) n (otražénije)
• Scottish Gaelic: faileas m, sgàile f
• Spanish: reflejo (es) m
• Turkish: yansıma (tr)
• Welsh: adlewyrchiad m

careful thought or consideration

• Bulgarian: размишление (bg) n (razmišlenie)
• Catalan: reflexió (ca) f
• Czech: úvaha (cs) f, reflexe (cs) f
• Danish: refleksion (da) c
• Esperanto: konsidero
• Finnish: harkinta (fi)
• German: Abwägung (de) f, Reflektion (de) f
• Hungarian: gondolkodás (hu), átgondolás, megfontolás (hu)
• Indonesian: renungan (id)

• Irish: athmhachnamh m
• Malagasy: fieritreretana (mg)
• Maori: whakaaroarohanga
• Navajo: nabíkʼítsídzíłkees
• Plautdietsch: Bedenkjen n
• Portuguese: reflexão (pt) f
• Russian: размышле́ние (ru) n (razmyšlénije)
• Sanskrit: ध्यान (sa) n (dhyāna)
• Scottish Gaelic: smaoin f
• Welsh: myfyrdod m

an implied criticism

• Indonesian: celaan (id)

computing: Process of determining the capabilities of an object at run-time

• Finnish: reflektio
• German: Reflexion (de) f

• Indonesian: refleksi (id)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: (meanings 1, 2 and 3) ^{(please verify)} reflet (fr), (meaning 4) ^{(please verify)} réflexion (fr)
• Greek: ^{(please verify)} αντανάκλαση (el) f (antanáklasi) (1,2,3), ^{(please verify)} είδωλο (el) n (eídolo) (3), ^{(please verify)} σκέψη (el) f (sképsi) (4)

• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} పరావర్తనము (te) (parāvartanamu)

See also

• refraction
• diffraction