REFLECTION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does reflection mean? 

• REFLECTION (noun)
  The noun REFLECTION has 8 senses:

1. a calm, lengthy, intent consideration

2. the phenomenon of a propagating wave (light or sound) being thrown back from a surface

3. expression without words

4. a likeness in which left and right are reversed

5. the image of something as reflected by a mirror (or other reflective material)

6. (mathematics) a transformation in which the direction of one axis is reversed

7. a remark expressing careful consideration

8. the ability to reflect beams or rays

  Familiarity information: REFLECTION used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• REFLECTION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A calm, lengthy, intent consideration

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

contemplation; musing; reflection; reflexion; rumination; thoughtfulness

Hypernyms ("reflection" is a kind of...):

consideration (the process of giving careful thought to something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "reflection"):

cogitation; study (attentive consideration and meditation)

meditation; speculation (continuous and profound contemplation or musing on a subject or series of subjects of a deep or abstruse nature)

meditation ((religion) contemplation of spiritual matters (usually on religious or philosophical subjects))

introspection; self-contemplation; self-examination (the contemplation of your own thoughts and desires and conduct)

retrospect (contemplation of things past)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The phenomenon of a propagating wave (light or sound) being thrown back from a surface

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Synonyms:

reflection; reflexion

Hypernyms ("reflection" is a kind of...):

physical phenomenon (a natural phenomenon involving the physical properties of matter and energy)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "reflection"):

flare (am unwanted reflection in an optical system (or the fogging of an image that is caused by such a reflection))

interreflection (reciprocal reflection between two reflecting surfaces)

virtual image (a reflected optical image (as seen in a plane mirror))

zodiacal light (a luminous tract in the sky; a reflection of sunlight from cosmic dust in the plane of the ecliptic; visible just before sunrise and just after sunset)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Expression without words

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

expression; manifestation; reflection; reflexion

Context example:

the pulse is a reflection of the heart's condition

Hypernyms ("reflection" is a kind of...):

demo; demonstration (a visual presentation showing how something works)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "reflection"):

lamentation; mourning (the passionate and demonstrative activity of expressing grief)

act (a manifestation of insincerity)

blowup; ebullition; effusion; gush; outburst (an unrestrained expression of emotion)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A likeness in which left and right are reversed

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

mirror image; reflection; reflexion

Hypernyms ("reflection" is a kind of...):

alikeness; likeness; similitude (similarity in appearance or character or nature between persons or things)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The image of something as reflected by a mirror (or other reflective material)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

reflection; reflexion

Context example:

he studied his reflection in the mirror

Hypernyms ("reflection" is a kind of...):

icon; ikon; image; picture (a visual representation (of an object or scene or person or abstraction) produced on a surface)

Sense 6

Meaning:

(mathematics) a transformation in which the direction of one axis is reversed

Classified under:

Nouns denoting relations between people or things or ideas

Hypernyms ("reflection" is a kind of...):

transformation ((mathematics) a function that changes the position or direction of the axes of a coordinate system)

Domain category:

math; mathematics; maths (a science (or group of related sciences) dealing with the logic of quantity and shape and arrangement)

Sense 7

Meaning:

A remark expressing careful consideration

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

observation; reflection; reflexion

Hypernyms ("reflection" is a kind of...):

comment; input; remark (a statement that expresses a personal opinion or belief or adds information)

Instance hyponyms:

Parkinson's law (C. Northcote Parkinson's cynical observation that the number of subordinates in an organization will increase linearly regardless of the amount of work to be done)

Parkinson's law (C. Northcote Parkinson's cynical observation that work will expand so as to fill the time available for its completion)

Sense 8

Meaning:

The ability to reflect beams or rays

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

reflection; reflectivity; reflexion

Hypernyms ("reflection" is a kind of...):

physical property (any property used to characterize matter and energy and their interactions)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "reflection"):

echo; replication; reverberation; sound reflection (the repetition of a sound resulting from reflection of the sound waves)

echo (a reflected television or radio or radar beam)

 Context examples 

My reflections at these times were always associated with the figure I was to make in life, and the distinguished things I was to do.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

After a moment's reflection, Mr. Crawford replied, I know Mansfield, I know its way, I know its faults towards you.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

No, said Catherine, after a few moments' reflection, I do not—ought I?

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Emma knows I never flatter her, said Mr. Knightley, but I meant no reflection on any body.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

The tale was quickly told, but it awakened various trains of reflection.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

A moment's reflection shewed her the mistake she had been under.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Reflection from ice is the leading candidate in my mind, but the team continues to consider alternate possibilities, such as salt.

(Bright Spots Shine in Newest Dawn Ceres Images, NASA)

I started, for it amazed me that I had not seen him, since the reflection of the glass covered the whole room behind me.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

But the time was long to him, and he looked at the reflection of his face on the surface of the water.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

I was so far in my reflections when, as I have said, a side light began to shine upon the subject from the laboratory table.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)