reflexiveadj.n.
/rᵻˈflɛksɪv/, U.S. /rəˈflɛksɪv/, /ˌriˈflɛksɪv/ A. adj.† 3. Reciprocal, correspondent. Obsolete.† 4. That reflects on a person, esp. negatively. Obsolete. rare.
1. † b. Of light, heat, etc.: reflected. Frequently in figurative contexts. Obsolete.
a. Capable of turning, deflecting, or bending (something) back. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > impact > rebound > [adjective] > capable of
reflexive1588
reboundable1685
reverberative1716
the world > space > direction > specific directions > [adjective] > having backward direction > turned backwards > capable of
reflexive1884
1588 J. Read in tr. Arcaeus Compend. Method ii. ix. f. 60v Who would not feare the force, the pearcing and power reflexiue of Quicksiluer. For whiles you doe anoynt the legges and the armes, you driue the matter inward..vnto the chief and principall entraills.
1884 A. Daniell Text-bk. Princ. Physics xiv. 413 The reflexive power of flame is nearly the same as that of tracing-paper.
1964 J. Sasamori & G. Warner This is Kendo (Gloss.) 148 Kaeshi-waza..technique of receiving opponent's stroke and deflecting it with the reflexive power of the shinai.
ΚΠ
1648 F. Roberts Clavis Bibliorum 277 Our love to God, which is an effect, or reflexive beame of Gods love to us.
1658 T. Bancroft Heroical Lover 36 My precious treasures with reflexive shine Shall gild your brows, & make your looks divine.
1676 M. Hale Contempl. Moral & Divine: 2nd Pt. 201 Though the Glory of thy Essence, cannot receive any increase by this reflection, yet thou art pleased everlastingly to perpetuate this thy reflexive Glory.
1736 S. Wesley Poems 153 Heat Africk's Furnace into sev'n-fold Flame; Whose Burnings join'd, reflexive and direct, Half vitrify her Sands.
1815 W. Clayton Invisible Hand vii. 78 I love..to look back on our nuptial day. Its reflexive rays yet cheer me.
1950 H. Duméry in M. Farber Philos. Thought in France & U.S. i. 237 A deliberate attempt to restore to philosophy the whole of its domain, by introducing reflexive light into the very substrata beneath..clear thought.
2002 J. A. Diamond Maimonides & Hermeneutics of Concealment vii. 155 God's scrutiny of man is portrayed in terms of a perennial shaft of reflexive light beaming from God to man and back again.
c. Capable of reflecting light; = reflective adj. 2a. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > reflection > [adjective]
faw?a1400
relusantc1400
relucentc1487
splendent1578
sparkling1590
reflecting1591
speculable1592
reflectent1644
reflective1658
reflexious1659
reflexivea1660
specular1661
reflectant1669
reverberant1733
catoptrica1774
reverberatory1790
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > light > reflection > [adjective] > capable of reflecting
reflexivea1660
mirrored1821
a1660 T. Powell Humane Industry (1661) ix.142 As Glass is diaphanous, and permits a free passage of species through its body,..so it is also reflexive, and beats back the said species that fall upon it.
1672 F. Vernon Let. 10 Apr. in H. Oldenburg Corr. (1973) IX. 14 Mr Huygens hath made one [sc. a telescope], whose reflexive mirrorr is about 3. inches diameter.
1677 R. Boyle in Philos. Trans. 1676 (Royal Soc.) 11 787 I found the Confining surface very strongly reflexive.
1704 J. Harris Lexicon Technicum I Reflecting, or Reflexive Dyals, are made by a little piece of Looking-Glass-Plate, duly placed, which reflects the Sun's Rays to the top of a Ceiling, &c. where the Dyal is drawn.
1759 B. Martin Philosophia Britannica (ed. 2) II. 331 The most refrangible Rays M H will be first within the reflexive Power of the Surface B C, on account of the greater Tenuity of its Particles.
1868 L. Price Man. Photogr. Manip. (ed. 2) i. 47 But from small reflexive surfaces, as a single head, they are necessarily slow.
1889 Nature 4 Apr. 552/2 Silver possesses even for blue rays a very considerable reflexive power.
1914 I. Dooman Missionary's Life in Land of Gods ii. 45 A talented artist sitting in a spacious hall whose four walls are covered with pure and reflexive mirrors.
1991 J. Fabian Time & Work Anthropol. xiii. 260 Hanging the walls full with reflexive mirrors may brighten the place, but offers no way out.
2005 Nucl. Instruments & Methods Physics Res. B. 236 529/1 Since the samples were not coated with a conducting material prior to examination, the high matrix content gives a reflexive surface.
2.
a. Chiefly Philosophy and Psychology. Of a mental action, process, etc.: turned or directed back upon the mind itself; involving intelligent self-awareness or self-examination; introspective. Cf. reflection n. 7c.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > consciousness > contemplation of self > [adjective] > turned inward
reflexed1595
reflexive1615
reflex1625
reflexible?1642
reflect1647
introverted1782
society > society and the community > study of society > [adjective] > theories or methods of analysis
functional1884
Webbite1890
neo-critical1894
structural-functional1898
Tolstoyan1898
functionalist1907
Webbian1913
Paretian1916
situational1916
Paretan1932
verstehende1933
reflexive1934
same-level1934
sociographic1934
idealistic1937
ideational1937
Parsonian1945
social Darwinist1945
culturalist1948
structural1948
contextualized1951
metasociological1953
structural functionalist1953
meta-sociologistic1964
Lévi-Straussian1967
postcolonial1970
decontextualized1971
cliometric1974
postcolonialist1981
intersectional1989
1615 T. Jackson Iustifying Faith i. iii. 8 This definition he chiefely intended, in oposition to such as restrain Assent onely vnto the reflexiue, or examinatiue acts of the vnderstanding.
1640 E. Reynolds Treat. Passions xxviii. 295 In those two Offices of Reason; the Transient and Reflexive act, that whereby we looke Outward on others; or Inward on our selves.
1653 Z. Coke Art of Logick i. 8 Logick..giveth a reflexive knowledge to a man, that is, it makes a man not only know (directly) but makes him know that he knoweth a thing.
a1708 W. Beveridge Private Thoughts Relig. (1709) 2 Being not capable of a reflexive Act,..they know it not.
1748 I. Watts Wks. (1800) II. vi. 337 When the affections are impressed and awakened to a powerful exercise, by divine truths, willl not these lively powers have a farther and a reflexive influence on the mind and the will?
1853 F. S. Mines Presbyterian Clergyman looking for Church 492 The manner of preaching the great doctrine of justification by faith, isolating it from the virtues, and making it a reflexive operation,..is..the soul-destroying heresy of the age.
1868 N. Porter Human Intellect (1870) 220 The material object must be compared with the sentient soul, by an act of reflexive analysis.
1934 G. H. Mead Mind, Self & Society xxi. 173 Cooley and James..endeavor to find the basis of the self in reflexive affective experiences, i.e., experiences involving ‘self~feeling’.
1957 P. Lafitte Person in Psychol. 17 All learning depends on the reflexive interpretation of one's experience together with the experience of others.
1966 V. Nabokov Speak, Memory (U.S. rev. ed.) i. 21 The beginning of reflexive consciousness in the brain of our remotest ancestor must surely have coincided with the dawning of the sense of time.
1979 C. Rycroft Innocence of Dreams (1981) iii. 45 Dreaming is a special case of reflexive mental activity, in which the self becomes twofold, one part observing..situations imaginatively presented to it by the other.
b. gen. Capable of, inclined to, or characterized by reflection or serious thought; = reflective adj. 1a.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > thought > continued thinking, reflection, contemplation > [adjective]
thoughtfulc1175
contemplative1340
considerativec1449
musing1449
studient1532
pondering1566
contemplatory1576
speculative1578
considerate1581
reflective1581
theorical1594
theoric?1600
theoretical1608
meditative1611
thoughtsome1627
reflexive1630
reflecting1632
revolutive1637
cogitativea1639
thoughtive1654
lucubratory1656
thinkful1668
theoretic1701
ruminatinga1704
reflectious1715
ruminative1774
thinking1799
meditative1831
ruminant1849
meditational1864
penseful1865
the mind > mental capacity > thought > continued thinking, reflection, contemplation > thinking about, consideration, deliberation > [adjective]
contemplative1340
thoughtfula1400
considering1483
revolving1597
deliberative1602
ponderative1610
reflexive1630
ponderous1632
reflecting1632
reflectivea1640
perpensive1647
balancing1850
meditative1876
1630 Pathomachia ii. v. 21 Yea but those emptie declaimors..are onely some impatient Male-contents, and men that want the reflexiue eye of Historie.
a1640 W. Fenner Souls Looking-glasse (1643) 151 It is not an act of judgement, but it is a reflexive facultie of the soul having a very good judgement.
1653 H. More Antidote against Atheisme ii. v. 61 Man, in whom there is a principle of more fine and reflexive Reason.
1655 H. More Antidote against Atheism (ed. 2) App. v. 320 This must be in a knowing, passive, and reflexive subject.
1673 J. Flavell Fountain of Life x. 123 Allow time to reflect upon what God hath spoken to you. What Power is there in Man more excellent, or more appropriate to the reasonable nature, than it's reflexive and self considering power?
1752 School of Man (1753) 37 Their sensitive soul bears such marks of a reflexive intelligence.
1895 Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. 6 622 Since equivocally conditioned attention may include among the objects attended to even the attending subject, it must be a spiritual action, for matter is incapable of such reflexive process.
1990 G. Squires 1st Degree 57 The natural sciences are in the main concerned with the ‘knowing’ of physical, chemical and biological ‘objects’... This is not to say that the sciences..are not sometimes reflexive and even philosophical.
2004 Times Lit. Suppl. 14 May 17/4 Page layout, font size and white space are all designed to enhance the text's visual qualities, and to draw attention to the reflexive nature of reading.
c. Originally Social Sciences. Of a method, theory, etc.: that takes account of itself or esp. of the effect of the personality or presence of the researcher on what is being investigated.
ΚΠ
1904 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 10 271 Sociology must take cognizance of all those phenomena..which must be explained..by a reference to those laws of self-reaction, or the reflexive action of the (social) self upon itself, by which it comes that the collective consciousness realizes certain ideas by the very fact of conceiving them.
1970 A. Gouldner Coming Crisis of Western Sociol. xiii. 490 A Reflexive Sociology means that we sociologists must..acquire the ingrained habit of viewing our own beliefs as we now view those held by others.
1972 M. Landau Polit. Theory & Polit. Sci. i. 32 A reflexive prediction is one in which the prediction is itself a factor which may materially alter the projected or anticipated outcome.
2004 F. Rapport New Qualitative Methodologies Health & Social Care Res. 12 Structure is self-imposed by the reflexive researcher as the research study develops in an inductive, intuitive, long-term process.
d. Chiefly Literary Theory. Self-referential, self-reflexive; spec. (of a text, artwork, etc.) that consciously calls attention to itself or its process or production.
ΚΠ
1954 Yale French Stud. 14 58 The modern French theatre offers significant examples of a reflexive theatre, of a theatre which, more or less consciously, calls its own existence into question.
1965 MLN 80 553 A new reflexive painting, an art that is critical of its means and doubtful of the very existence of the subject-object relationship.
1986 A. Jefferson & D. Robey Mod. Lit. Theory 55 The theme of castration is seen as a pretext for a kind of reflexive anxiety on the part of the text itself concerning the very possibility of representation.
2007 C. Rowland in H. C. Buescu & J. F. Duarte Stories & Portraits of Self i. 66 Grande Sertão is essentially a reflexive novel, where the metatextual dimension is introduced through the tension between oral and written forms.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > correlation > [adjective] > mutual or reciprocal
evena1425
interchangeablec1450
relativea1500
reciprocativea1504
mutual1513
reciproque?1533
reciprocous1567
requiteda1586
intermutual1595
alternate1600
commutual1604
vicissitudinary1629
reciprocal1632
reflexivea1635
reciprocated1663
related1671
mutuous1683
turn about1802
interdependent1817
interrelated1827
reciprocating1827
reciprocate1833
transmutuala1834
reflective1839
interpendent1855
interradiating1858
two-way1950
a1635 R. Sibbes Faith Triumphant 278 in Evangelicall Sacrifices (1640) This imbracing of Christ, and heaven, it is a mutuall imbracing, and it is a second, reflexive imbracing.
c1642 Contra-Replicant's Complaint 18 There is likewise a neare consanguinity, and reflexive benevolence of aspects between Lawes and Princes.
1682 J. Flavell Righteous Man's Refuge in Pract. Treat. Fear (new ed.) 178 Nor..are our thoughts as Gods in respect of reflexive comprehension.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disrepute > damage to reputation > slander or calumny > [adjective]
horyc1000
missayingc1330
slandering1402
disclanderous1421
maligningc1425
defamatoryc1485
calumnious1490
defamative1502
slanderous?1521
infaming1535
obtractuous1537
defaminga1550
defamous1557
black-mouthed1560
sycophanticala1566
malignious1578
libelling1587
blasting1591
maledicent1599
traducing1601
black-throated1604
blasphemous1605
depraving1606
abusive1608
calumniating1609
obloquious1611
vilifying1611
infamatory1612
calumniatory1625
aspersionating1639
aspersive1642
scandalizing1646
reflexive1654
unworthying1654
reflecting1656
reflective1664
slanderful1669
aspersing1673
reflectious1715
traducent1736
obloquial1790
sycophantic1801
wronging1845
trash-talking1975
1654 J. Goodwin Peace Protected 29 However, if these words in the answer, If Moses had built again &c. be reflexive upon him, whom God hath given (Moses-like) for a Ruler unto this Nation,..the reflexion (as hath been already said, in effect) is palpably [printed papably]) and putidly calumnious.
1677 J. Owen Doctr. Justif. by Faith in Wks. (1851) V. 281 This opinion is false. For..it is highly reflexive on the honour of God that He should give a law requiring outward works only.
a1716 R. South Serm. Several Occasions (1744) X. 174 I would fain know, what man..there is, that does not resent an ugly reflexive word.
5. Grammar and Linguistics. Of a grammatical element or its meaning: that refers back to the subject of the clause or sentence in which it is used.In English applied esp. to a pronoun that refers back to the subject (e.g. myself, herself), or to a verb or clause that has such a pronoun as its object (e.g. to dress oneself).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > other grammatical categories or concepts > [adjective] > reflexive
reciprocal1611
reflexive1677
reflective1716
reflected1719
reflex1810
1677 F. Bampfield All in One 167 Whether a translating of Hebrew Verbs of the self reflexive conjugation, would not promote these self reflecting meditations and acts?
1764 J. Coomans French & Eng. Gram. 111 When the supines, in the compound tenses of the reflexive verbs, govern an infinitive or a case, they do not vary.
1814 J. Marshman Elements Chinese Gram. 400 The following is an example of the reflexive verb from Mung.
1861 F. M. Müller Lect. Sci. Lang. viii. 299 The mere addition of certain letters, which give to every verb a negative, or causative, or reflexive, or reciprocal meaning.
1867 J. Hadley Ess. xi. 205 A shortened form of the reflexive pronoun.
1933 L. Bloomfield Lang. xii. 193 In English we say he washed him when actor and goal are not identical, but he washed himself (a reflexive form) when they are the same person.
1991 Appl. Linguistics 12 387 Several types of pre-verbal object pronouns exist in French, including a series of direct object pronouns, indirect object pronouns, and reflexive pronouns.
2006 I. Gülzow Acquisition of Intensifiers vi. 237 The point in development at which..reflexive pronouns surface..is relevant information regarding the structure of children's early systems of the expression x-self.
6. Physiology. Of the nature of a reflex action; involving reflexes. In extended use: (of any action or response) automatic, unthinking, instinctive. Also: (of an agent) governed by reflexes, instinctive. Cf. reflex adj. 3.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > action of nervous system > [adjective] > reflex action
consensual1800
reflex1833
reflexive1845
reflectorial1868
reflexogenous1899
1845 Lancet 25 Jan. 103/2 Spinal irritation must be common in all diseases of organs supplied by its..ultimate branches, generally induced by reflexive irritation.
1871 F. W. Farrar Witness of Hist. iv. 138 He reduced religion to a reflexive ceremony of empty proprieties.
1903 Science 27 Nov. 696/1 Immediate physico-chemical stimuli undoubtedly produce as direct reflexive reactions many of the activities which we have been long interpreting on a basis of complex instincts and associative memory.
1927 Jrnl. Nerv. & Mental Dis. 65 463 We..succeeded in producing in apes..a reflexive contraction of the adductor muscles of the thigh.
1971 L. Koppett N.Y. Times Guide Spectator Sports i. 13 To have any chance at all, the batter, whose action must be entirely reflexive, needs protection from additional trickery.
2000 High Country News 9 Oct. 8/2 ‘Don't touch it’, he says, making me wonder if I have extended my hand in a reflexive Strangelovian jerk.
7. Mathematics and Logic. Of a relation: that always holds between a term and itself.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [adjective] > describing relationships between quantities > other
incommensurable1557
minor1571
reflexive1903
biunique1941
dyadic1962
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > logical proposition > term of a proposition > [adjective] > relating to other types of terms
concrete?1499
adequate1615
reflexive1903
aliorelative1915
1903 B. Russell Princ. Math. xix. 159 All kinds of equality have in common the three properties of being reflexive, symmetrical, and transitive.
1937 A. Smeaton tr. R. Carnap Logical Syntax Lang. iv. 261 Conditions which require for symmetrical, reflexive, and transitive relations the property of non-emptiness.
1972 F. J. Budden Fascination of Groups xx. 374 Conjugacy is a relation between the elements of a group. It is evidently reflexive (since y = 1y1-1).
2004 M. Potter Set Theory & its Philos. vi. 106 The intersection of the reflexive transitive relations on A containing r is called the weak ancestral of r in A and denoted r t.
B. n.† 1. With the and plural agreement. Reflective people as a class. Obsolete. rare.† 2. An object that reflects light. Obsolete. rare.
ΚΠ
1684 T. Burnet Theory of Earth ii. 287 To the attentive and reflexive, to those that are unprejudic'd.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > reflection > [noun] > objects or substances that reflect light
reflectent1658
reflexive1686
reflecter1713
reflector1749
reflectant1963
1686 J. Goad Astro-meteorologica i. ix. 27 That there may be found as much variety in them as in other Reflexives, i.e. Plain, Convex or Concave Glasses.
3. Grammar. A reflexive verb or pronoun.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > a part of speech > pronoun > [noun] > reflexive pronoun
reciproque1655
reflexive1814
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > a part of speech > verb > [noun] > reflexive verb
mean1530
reciprocal1635
reflexive1867
1814 J. Marshman Elements Chinese Gram. 399 There is another class of verbs found in most of the eastern languages, which cause the action of the verb to terminate on the agent himself... These we term Reflexives.
1852 Biblical Repertory July 502 The Hophal is a passive..and is formed by refixing to the active the third person masculine of the personal pronouns, making originally a reflexive, and thence a passive.
1867 J. Hadley Ess. xi. 209 The reflexive which serves to express the passive is a causal reflexive.
1892 Mod. Lang. Notes 7 32/2 The feminine form of the reflexive retains the accent on the suffix -la.
1916 Mod. Lang. Notes 31 497 In the examination of the reflexive with faire..a distinction should be made between essential and accidental reflexives.
1961 R. B. Long Sentence & its Parts xvi. 357 Reflexives can refer to singulars as well.
1991 Appl. Linguistics 12 388 A closer look at the reflexives shows that the third person singular and plural pronoun se is by far the most common reflexive pronoun found in all four types of native speaker data.
2003 G. Stein Compl. Idiot's Guide Spanish Verbs ii. iii. 46 Some verbs that are usually not used as reflexives may be made reflexive by adding the reflexive pronoun.
Compounds
reflexive selection n. Biology (a) natural selection which acts on those characteristics of an organism relating to its interactions with others of the same species (now disused); (b) natural selection which acts to maintain variation (polymorphism) in a population, in cases where the variability itself is thought to be the adaptive feature.
ΚΠ
1888 Linn. Soc. Jrnl. 20 200/2 Reflexive Selection is the exclusive generation of those better fitted to the relations in which the members of the same species stand to each other.
1908 Amer. Naturalist 42 57 Isolated groups of individuals of the same variety..may still..adopt different methods of dealing with the external environment, or introduce divergent forms of sexual or social selection, or of some other form of reflexive selection.
1962 Science 20 Apr. 263/1 The term reflexive selection suggests itself because it is the variation per se which is adaptive, and the frequency of any one type is determined by a feedback relationship with all the other types.
1988 Oikos 55 130 Some populations may contain many rare phenotypes (maintained by reflexive selection) and some more frequent phenotypes (maintained by apostatic selection).
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1588