reflexive
Grammar.
(of a verb) taking a subject and object with identical referents, as shave in I shave myself.
(of a pronoun) used as an object to refer to the subject of a verb, as myself in I shave myself.
reflex; responsive.
able to reflect; reflective.
Mathematics.
noting a relation in which each element is in relation to itself, as the relation “less than or equal to.”: Compare antireflexive.
(of a vector space) having the property that the dual space of the dual space of the given vector space equals the given vector space.
Grammar. a reflexive verb or pronoun.
Origin of reflexive
1Other words from reflexive
- re·flex·ive·ly, adverb
- re·flex·ive·ness, re·flex·iv·i·ty [ree-flek-siv-i-tee], /ˌri flɛkˈsɪv ɪ ti/, noun
- sem·i·re·flex·ive, adjective
- sem·i·re·flex·ive·ly, adverb
- sem·i·re·flex·ive·ness, noun
Words Nearby reflexive
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use reflexive in a sentence
Much of it also seems reflexive, as if the governor is a puppet and his own ambition is pulling the strings.
Desperate, Deranged DeSantis Devolves Into Dumb Troll | Ruben Navarrette Jr. | November 5, 2021 | The Daily BeastAlthough I didn’t know it at the time, my reflexive retreats into abstract realms was the nursery in which my individuality was fostered as a teenager.
How I Escaped My Troubles Through Science - Issue 104: Harmony | Subodh Patil | August 25, 2021 | NautilusIt becomes distorted, and is untethered from the reflexive and generative environment in which it was created, and can be used to serve quite different purposes.
Why Coalition, Not Allyship, Is the Necessary Next Step in the Racial Justice Movement | Suyin Haynes | June 22, 2021 | TimeCounterfactual information generation allows a conscious agent to detach itself from the environment and perform non-reflexive behavior, such as waiting for three seconds before acting.
Taking a self-reflexive turn, she argued that high school oratory had become a race to one-up competitors with ever more harrowing personal stories.
‘I’m Going to Say It From the Heart.’ America’s Reckoning on Race Has Come to High School Speech and Debate | Brian Seto McGrath | December 25, 2020 | Time
In recent Republican congressional primaries, the rank-and-file has voted “no” to reflexive interventionism.
There have been reflexive attempts to associate some recent mass shooters with the right-wing politics of incitement.
It would be a reflexive resort to ideological self-satisfaction.
There is a history here that makes a reflexive negative response to a military coup understandable.
So I now have this sort of reflexive flinch when the jobs report comes out, as I half-expect a big blow to fall.
The Slow, Grinding Repair of the American Labor Market | Megan McArdle | May 3, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTThe termination uba is that of the third person of reflexive verbs.
The Maya Chronicles | VariousThe intransitive form derives from the transitive by dropping a generalized, customary, reflexive or cognate object.
Instigations | Ezra PoundAlteration to hine would give a common reflexive use, rejoices; comp.
Her indignation at the woman who had supplanted her swept over her with a reflexive flush of heat.
The City of Delight | Elizabeth MillerI think I put out my hand, or made some other reflexive gesture to stop her, but either she failed to notice or misunderstood.
Greener Than You Think | Ward Moore
British Dictionary definitions for reflexive
/ (rɪˈflɛksɪv) /
denoting a class of pronouns that refer back to the subject of a sentence or clause. Thus, in the sentence that man thinks a great deal of himself, the pronoun himself is reflexive
denoting a verb used transitively with the reflexive pronoun as its direct object, as the French se lever "to get up" (literally "to raise oneself") or English to dress oneself
physiol of or relating to a reflex
logic maths (of a relation) holding between any member of its domain and itself: "… is a member of the same family as …" is reflexive Compare irreflexive, nonreflexive
a reflexive pronoun or verb
Derived forms of reflexive
- reflexively, adverb
- reflexiveness or reflexivity (ˌriːflɛkˈsɪvɪtɪ), noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for reflexive
[ rĭ-flĕk′sĭv ]
Of or relating to a mathematical or logical relation such that, for any given element, that element has the given relation to itself. Equality in mathematics is a reflexive relation, since a = a for all a, whereas the relation of being 'less than' is not, since it is not true that a < a for any a.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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