reflex

See also: Reflex

English

Etymology

From Late Latin reflexus, past participle of reflectere (“to bend back”), equivalent to re- +‎ flex. Photography sense is from noun sense meaning “reflection”. Compare English reflect.

Pronunciation

  • (noun, adjective) IPA(key): /ˈɹiːflɛks/
  • Audio (UK):(file)
  • IPA(key): (verb) /ɹɪˈflɛks/
  • Audio (UK):(file)

Noun

reflex (plural reflexes)

Examples

English eye is the reflex of Old English ēage.

  1. An automatic response to a simple stimulus which does not require mental processing.
    • 1970, Stanisław Lem, trans. Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox, Solaris:
      For a while, I shall have to make a conscious effort to smile, nod, stand and perform the thousands of little gestures which constitute life on Earth, and then those gestures will become reflexes again.
    • 2012 May 5, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport‎[1], archived from the original on 18 January 2016:
      He met Luis Suarez's cross at the far post, only for Chelsea keeper Petr Cech to show brilliant reflexes to deflect his header on to the bar. Carroll turned away to lead Liverpool's insistent protests that the ball had crossed the line but referee Phil Dowd and assistant referee Andrew Garratt waved play on, with even a succession of replays proving inconclusive.
  2. (linguistics) The descendant of an earlier language element, such as a word or phoneme, in a daughter language.
    Antonym: etymon
    Coordinate term: cognate
  3. (linguistics, rare) The ancestor word corresponding to a descendant.
  4. The descendant of anything from an earlier time, such as a cultural myth.
    • 1898, Christian Brinton, The Century:
      The superstition of the loup-garou, or werewolf, belongs to the folklore of most modern nations, and has its reflex in the story of "Little Red Riding-hood" and others.
  5. (chiefly photography) A reflection or an image produced by a reflection; the light reflected from an illuminated surface to one in shade.
    A reflex camera uses a mirror to reflect the image onto a ground-glass viewfinder.

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

reflex (comparative more reflex, superlative most reflex)

  1. Bent, turned back or reflected.
    • a. 1677 (date written), Matthew Hale, The Primitive Origination of Mankind, Considered and Examined According to the Light of Nature, London: […] William Godbid, for William Shrowsbery, […], published 1677, →OCLC:
      the reflex act of the soul, or the turning of the intellectual eye inward upon its own actions
  2. Produced automatically by a stimulus.
    • 1984 February 4, Mike Riegle, “Consent and Violence”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 28, page 6:
      It's easier to focus on the particular relationship or object (as in 'pornography', for example) than on the sexist (racist, ageist, etc.) attitudes that generate the almost reflex violence taught in our schools, churches, legal processes, families, mass entertainment, and advertising propaganda.
  3. (geometry, of an angle) Having greater than 180 degrees but less than 360 degrees.
    • 1878, James Maurice Wilson, Elementary Geometry, MacMillan, page 10:
      A polygon is said to be convex when no one of its angles is reflex.
    • 1895, David Eugen Smith, Wooster Woodruff Bernan, New Plane and Solid Geometry, page 7:
      An angle less than a right angle is said to be acute; one greater than a right angle but less than a straight angle is said to be obtuse; one greater than a straight angle but less than a perigon is said to be reflex or convex.
    • 1958, Howard Fehr, “On Teaching Dihedral Angle and Steradian” in The Mathematics Teacher, v 51, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, page 275:
      If the reflex region is the interior of the angle, the dihedral angle is reflex.
    • 1991, B. Falcidieno et al., “Configurable Representations in Feature-based Modelling”, in Eurographics '91: Proceedings, North-Holland, page 145:
      A reflex edge of a polyhedron is an edge where the inner dihedral angle subtended by two incident faces is greater than 180°.
    • 2001, Esther M. Arkin et al., “On the Reflexivity of Point Sets”, in Algorithms and data structures: 7th International Workshop, WADS 2001: Proceedings, Springer, page 195:
      We say that an angle is convex if it is not reflex.
    • 2004, Ana Paula Tomás and António Leslie Bajuelos, “Quadratic-Time Linear-Space Algorithms Generating Orthogonal Polygons with a Given Number of Vertices”, in Computational Science and Its Applications – ICCSA 2004 Proceedings, part 3, Springer, page 117:
      P denotes a polygon and r the number of reflex vertices.
  4. (painting) Illuminated by light reflected from another part of the same picture.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

reflex (third-person singular simple present reflexes, present participle reflexing, simple past and past participle reflexed)

  1. (transitive) To bend back or turn back over itself.
  2. (transitive, obsolete) To reflect (light, sight, etc.).
  3. (transitive, obsolete) To reflect or mirror (an object), to show the image of.
  4. (transitive, obsolete) To cast (beams of light) on something.
    • c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene i:
      The ſpring is hindered by your ſmoothering hoſt,
      For neither rain can fall vpon the earth,
      Nor Sun reflexe his vertuous beames thereon.
      The ground is mantled with ſuch multitudes.
  5. To respond to a stimulus.

Anagrams

Catalan

Etymology

    Learned borrowing from Latin reflexus. First attested in 1803.[1]

    Pronunciation

    Adjective

    reflex (feminine reflexa, masculine plural reflexos, feminine plural reflexes)

    1. reflected
      Synonym: reflectit
    2. (psychology) reflex
      acte reflex ― reflex action
    3. (botany) reflexed
    4. (linguistics) reflexive
      Synonym: reflexiu

    Noun

    reflex m (plural reflexos)

    1. reflection (something that is reflected)
      Synonym: reflexió
    2. reflex (an automatic response to a simple stimulus)

    References

    1. ^ “reflex”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026

    Further reading

    Czech

    Etymology

    Borrowed from German Reflex, from French réflexe, from Latin reflexus.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): [ˈrɛflɛks]

    Noun

    reflex m inan

    1. reflex

    Declension

    Declension of reflex (hard masculine inanimate)
    singular plural
    nominative reflex reflexy
    genitive reflexu reflexů
    dative reflexu reflexům
    accusative reflex reflexy
    vocative reflexe reflexy
    locative reflexu reflexech
    instrumental reflexem reflexy

    See also

    Further reading

    Dutch

    Etymology

    Borrowed from French réflexe, from Latin reflexus.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /reːˈflɛks/, /rəˈflɛks/
    • Audio:(file)
    • Hyphenation: re‧flex
    • Rhymes: -ɛks

    Noun

    reflex m (plural reflexen, diminutive reflexjes n)

    1. reflex (automatic response by an organism)
      Synonym: reflexus

    Derived terms

    • reflexachtig
    • reflexmatig

    Descendants

    • → Indonesian: refleks

    Hungarian

    Etymology

    From German Reflex, from French réflexe.[1]

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): [ˈrɛflɛks]
    • Hyphenation: ref‧lex
    • Rhymes: -ɛks

    Noun

    reflex (plural reflexek)

    1. reflex (an automatic response to a simple stimulus which does not require mental processing)
    2. (photography) reflection
      Synonyms: visszfény, tükröződés

    Declension

    Inflection (stem in -e-, front unrounded harmony)
    singular plural
    nominative reflex reflexek
    accusative reflexet reflexeket
    dative reflexnek reflexeknek
    instrumental reflexszel reflexekkel
    causal-final reflexért reflexekért
    translative reflexszé reflexekké
    terminative reflexig reflexekig
    essive-formal reflexként reflexekként
    essive-modal — —
    inessive reflexben reflexekben
    superessive reflexen reflexeken
    adessive reflexnél reflexeknél
    illative reflexbe reflexekbe
    sublative reflexre reflexekre
    allative reflexhez reflexekhez
    elative reflexből reflexekből
    delative reflexről reflexekről
    ablative reflextől reflexektől
    non-attributive
    possessive – singular     		reflexé reflexeké
    non-attributive
    possessive – plural     		reflexéi reflexekéi
    Possessive forms of reflex
    possessor single possession multiple possessions
    1st person sing. reflexem reflexeim
    2nd person sing. reflexed reflexeid
    3rd person sing. reflexe reflexei
    1st person plural reflexünk reflexeink
    2nd person plural reflexetek reflexeitek
    3rd person plural reflexük reflexeik

    Derived terms

    Compound words

    References

    1. ^ István Tótfalusi (2005), Idegenszó-tár: Idegen szavak értelmező és etimológiai szótára [A Storehouse of Foreign Words: An Explanatory and Etymological Dictionary of Foreign Words], Budapest: Tinta, →ISBN

    Further reading

    • reflex in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.

    Romanian

    Etymology

    Etymology tree
    Latin Reflex
    French réflexebor.
    Romanian reflex

      Borrowed from French réflexe, from Latin Reflex.

      Adjective

      reflex m or n (feminine singular reflexă, masculine plural reflecși, feminine/neuter plural reflexe)

      1. reflex

      Declension

      Declension of reflex
      singular plural
      masculine neuter feminine masculine neuter feminine
      nominative-
      accusative       		indefinite reflex reflexă reflecși reflexe
      definite reflexul reflexa reflecșii reflexele
      genitive-
      dative       		indefinite reflex reflexe reflecși reflexe
      definite reflexului reflexei reflecșilor reflexelor

      Swedish

      en reflex (sense 2)

      Etymology

      From French réflexe, first attested 1811.[1]

      Noun

      reflex c

      1. a reflex, a (quick and spontaneous) reaction
      2. a reflector (tag, strip or band; carried by pedestrians and bicyclists to be visible from automobiles)
      3. a reflex (reflection)

      Declension

      Declension of reflex
      nominative genitive
      singular indefinite reflex reflex
      definite reflexen reflexens
      plural indefinite reflexer reflexers
      definite reflexerna reflexernas

      Derived terms

      References

      1. ^ “reflex”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
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