Reflection

How to spell reflection

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce reflection

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does reflection mean?

1. nounAn image thrown back by a mirror or shiny surface, or the throwing back of light, heat, or sound.
2. nounSerious thought or consideration given to something.

Reflection in a sentence

• She checked her reflection in the shop window before the interview.

• After much reflection, he decided to accept the job offer.

• The lake gave a perfect reflection of the surrounding hills.

• The report ends with a short reflection on what the team learned.

Where does reflection come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb flectere, which literally meant 'to bend' or 'to curve', combined with the prefix re-, meaning 'back'. The Latin reflectere therefore described the act of bending something back on itself, and from that came reflexio, a noun for the act of turning back. English took the word in through Old French during the 1300s, at first for the way light and heat are thrown back from a surface. From that physical sense the meaning naturally widened to the mental act of turning thoughts back on themselves, which is why a quiet 'reflection' can be either an image in a mirror or a careful thought. The same flect root still bends through close relatives such as 'flexible', 'deflect', and 'inflection', and remembering that the core is flect, not flex, helps fix the spelling.

How the word is built

• re- (back)
• flect (from Latin flectere: to bend)
• -ion (noun suffix)