reflective

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English reflect

Proto-Indo-European *-wós

Proto-Indo-European *-iHwósder.

Latin -īvus

Old French -ifbor.

Middle English -yf

English -ive

English reflective

From reflect + -ive.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈflɛktɪv/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛktɪv

Adjective

reflective (comparative more reflective, superlative most reflective)

1. That reflects, or redirects back to the source.

   Mirrors are reflective.

   • 2026 May, Julie Belcove, “Farm Fresh”, in Architectural Digest, volume 83, number 4, page 93:

     The structure's exterior is clad in aluminum-oxidized pine, which gives it a reflective quality that complements the galvanized-steel roof.

2. Pondering, especially thinking back on the past.

   He always becomes reflective in preparation for the new year.

   • 2023, Simon Mays, “The Macroscopic Study of Human Skeletal Paleopathology” (chapter 2), in The Routledge Handbook of Paleopathology, Routledge, →DOI, →ISBN, page 25:

     Type 1 processes are effortless recognition of objects or situations as of a type that have been encountered previously. In an osteological context, an example would be recognition of a bone as a femur or a humerus. Type 2 processes are slower, reflective and effortful. The application of specific procedural approaches in order to arrive at conclusions based on evidence, such as hypothesis testing in science, are Type 2 processes.

3. That reveals or shows; revealing; indicative of.
   • 2013 August 30, Kat Kinsman, “Something borrowed: Wedding traditions from around the world”, in CNN‎^[1], archived from the original on 26 February 2017:

     Both brides and grooms in native Hawaiian tradition wear flower garlands as a physical manifestation of their love for one another, and to some, the twining of the stems is reflective of two families now becoming one. A more tourist-friendly version established in the past couple of decades involves winding the leis around the couple’s hands to bind them together.

   • 2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 3:

     In any event, the incident, and the media attention it attracted, highlights the sensitivity of language politics in Singapore and is reflective of the fact that this sensitivity extends to campus life.

4. (programming) Involving reflection.
5. (programming) By means of reflection.
   • 2024, Egon Börger, Vincenzo Gervasi, Structures of Computing: A Guide to Practice-Oriented Theory, page 108:

     In JIT compilation, the running program is reflectively modified by an embedded compiler, which only uses two reflective operations […]

6. (grammar) Reciprocal.

Coordinate terms

• refractive

Derived terms

• antireflective
• coreflective
• echoreflective
• hyperreflective
• hyporeflective
• irreflective
• metareflective
• nonreflective
• overreflective
• prereflective
• reflectively
• reflectiveness
• reflective programming
• reflectivism
• reflectivist
• reflectivity
• retroreflective
• self-reflective
• semireflective
• thermoreflective
• transflective
• unreflective

Translations

That reflects, or redirects back to the source

• Belarusian: адбіва́льны (adbiválʹny)
• Bulgarian: отразяващ (bg) (otrazjavašt)
• Catalan: reflector, reflectant
• Finnish: heijastava (fi)
• Galician: reflector (gl) m
• Georgian: არეკვლადი (areḳvladi), ამრეკლავი (amreḳlavi)
• Hindi: परावर्ती (hi) (parāvartī)
• Indonesian: reflektif (id)
• Irish: frithchaiteach
• Polish: odblaskowy (pl)
• Portuguese: reflexivo (pt) m
• Romanian: reflectiv
• Russian: отража́тельный (ru) (otražátelʹnyj)
• Spanish: reflexivo (es), reflectante
• Swedish: speglande (sv)
• Turkish: yansıtıcı (tr)
• Ukrainian: відбивни́й (vidbyvnýj)
• Welsh: adlewyrchol (cy)

Pondering, especially thinking back on the past

• Bulgarian: замислен (bg) (zamislen)
• Esperanto: pripensa, pripensema
• Finnish: mietteliäs (fi)
• French: réflectif (fr)
• Greek: αναστοχαστικός (el) (anastochastikós)
• Hindi: मननशील (hi) (mananśīl)
• Indonesian: reflektif (id)
• Irish: cuimhneach
• Italian: riflessivo (it)
• Polish: refleksyjny (pl)
• Spanish: reflexivo (es)

Noun

reflective (plural reflectives)

1. (phrenology) A supposed organ of the brain, dealing with abstract reasoning.

   Coordinate term: perceptive

   • 1872, The Phrenological Journal and Life Illustrated, page 13:

     Then why not subdivide the reflectives and perceptives into distinct organs having special relations to external objects, as well as divide the intellect into a reflective and a perceptive portion?