reflexivelyadv.

1631 E. Reynolds Three Treat. 129 By giving a heart experimentally and reflexively to understand all, or by shaping and framing the heart to the Word, and so mingling them both together.

1674 Govt. Tongue 223 Not only directly..but reflexively also, in respect of what may rebound to our selves.

1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. v. 636 Reflexively examining himself, whether he have a Phantasm or Sensible Idea, belonging to every Word, or no.

a1716 R. South 12 Serm. (1717) VI. 105 Ay, but he spoke slightly and reflexively of such a Lady.

1776 G. Campbell Philos. of Rhetoric I. i. ix. 242 That which is obtained reflexively from the opinion entertained of him by the hearers.

1858 E. Caswall Poems 192 Thyself by nurture, meditation, grace, Reflexively reveal'd.

1867 C. J. Smith Syn. & Antonyms Abeyance, The term has been transferred reflexively from the person waiting to the thing waited for.

1890 Cent. Dict. 3798/3 Misspeak, to express improperly or imperfectly; speak otherwise than according to one's intention: used reflexively: as, I misspoke myself.

1910 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 15 473 Every separate reformatory institution has its own particular tone, derived originally from the central controlling individual, fed, fanned, and reflexively disseminated.

1952 Jrnl. Symbolic Logic 18 98 Transitively and reflexively, moreover, clauses of clauses of a schema are themselves clauses of that schema, and any schema is a clause of itself.

1977 J. Lyons Semantics I. i. 10 Instead of using a given language, reflexively, in order to describe itself, we can employ one language to describe another.

1992 Lit. & Ling. Computing 7 72/1 To write such a program, using his inner understanding power, one must first reflexively understand it, i.e. understand how he understands.

1845 A. Clissold tr. E. Swedenborg Econ. Animal Kingdom I. 398 The heart acts upon its own vessels immediately; but not mediately, and as it were reflexively, through its aorta.

1879 A. Napier tr. A. Eulenburg & G. Guttmann Physiol. & Pathol. Sympathetic Syst. Nerves i. 31 We can distinguish the following varieties of branches in the thoracic and abdominal sympathetic nerves:..4. Sensory branches, acting reflexively.

1901 Philos. Rev. 10 171 Children begin to imitate only after they have long been active reflexively, instinctively, and spontaneously.

1952 Mind 61 252 As is usual with such reflexively repeated dicta, this one is true but never practical to follow.

1966 D. F. Galouye Lost Perception xvi. 172 Instantly the three men twisted round. The closest was Wellford. Reflexively, he loosed a laser discharge.

1985 K. Follett Lie down with Lions (1992) (BNC) 75 As her nipple touched the baby's cheek, the child turned her head reflexively and opened her little mouth.

1997 Independent 1 Feb. (Mag.) 9/3 Another of the fundamental rules of how humans shop is that upon entering a store the shopper invariably and reflexively turns to the right.