reflection means the act of reflecting or the state of being reflected. It carries an Arena rating of 1645, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, reflection ranks #48 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #1,156 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #3,043 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words, #3,894 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words.
reflection is pronounced /ɹɪˈflɛkʃən/.
Why “reflection” is a great word
The act of reflecting, or the image or representation of something as thrown back by a reflective surface. From Middle English refleccioun, from Middle French reflection, reflexion, and its source Late Latin reflexiōnem (nominative reflexio), from the past participle stem of Latin reflectō ("to bend back"). Unlike "meditation," which implies deep, focused contemplation, or "echo," which is the specific return of a sound, reflection is a more general returning of light, thought, or form. It is the lake at dawn holding the mountain upside-down in its stillness, the shop window showing you walking past with your shadow attached, and the quiet moment after an argument when your own words finally return to you changed—a quiet reminder that the clearest vision often requires first looking away, as the mind, like a mirror, does not merely receive, but subtly bends what it returns.
Etymology
From Middle English refleccion, refleccioun, refleccioune, reflection, from Middle French reflection, reflexion, and its source Late Latin reflexiō, from the participle stem of reflectō. The current spelling is influenced by reflect. Equivalent to reflect + -ion.
noun
- The act of reflecting or the state of being reflected.
- The property of a propagated wave being thrown back from a surface (such as a mirror).
- Something, such as an image, that is reflected.e.g.“The dog barked at his own reflection in the mirror.”
- Careful thought or consideration.e.g.“After careful reflection, I have decided not to vote for that proposition.”
- A representative manifestation or outcome of a condition, trend or trait.e.g.“Our recent results are a reflection of the progress we've made as a team.”
- A representative manifestation or outcome of a condition, trend or trait.; Used to make an implied criticism.e.g.“It is a reflection on his character that he never came back to see them.”
- The process or mechanism of determining the capabilities of an object at run-time.e.g.“DynamicMBeanFacade uses Java's reflection API to introspect the managed resource and discover data type information for attributes.” — 2002, Java Enterprise Best Practices, O'Reilly:
- The folding of a part; a fold.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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