refract

[ ri-frakt ]

/ rɪˈfrækt /

Save This Word!

See synonyms for: refract / refracted on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object)

to subject to refraction.

to determine the refractive condition of (an eye).

QUIZ

SPRINT TO THE FINISH WITH THIS OLYMPICS QUIZ!

Compete in our Olympics quiz to see if you can take home the gold medal in Olympics knowledge.

Question 1 of 10

Where was the Olympics first held?

ancient Rome

ancient Greece

ancient Persia

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Meet Grammar Coach

Write or paste your essay, email, or story into Grammar Coach and get grammar help

Improve Your Writing

Meet Grammar CoachImprove Your Writing

Origin of refract

1605–15; <Latin refrāctus, past participle of refringere to break, force back, equivalent to re-re- + frac- (variant stem of frangere to break) + -tus past participle suffix

OTHER WORDS FROM refract

re·fract·a·ble, adjectivere·fract·ed·ly, adverbre·fract·ed·ness, nounnon·re·fract·ing, adjective

un·re·fract·ed, adjectiveun·re·fract·ing, adjective

Words nearby refract

Reform Jew, Reform Judaism, reform school, reformulate, Ref. Pres., refract, refractile, refracting telescope, refraction, refractionist, refractive

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

How to use refract in a sentence

When there’s artificial light to help guide you to an island, you don’t hone your other skills, like understanding birds or seeing the ocean refracting off the islands.
How Taboos Can Help Protect the Oceans - Issue 100: Outsiders|Krista Langlois|May 26, 2021|Nautilus
These stories shift and evolve, refracted through the values of the societies that retell them.
What the Rise and Fall of the Cinderella Fairy Tale Means for Real Women Today|Carol Dyhouse|April 19, 2021|Time
For example, each one of the billions of droplets in a rainbow conveys a different color when the sun refracts through it.
I Found a Rainbow At the End of My Hunt For a Vaccine Appointment|Susanna Schrobsdorff|March 28, 2021|Time
In Josephine Lee’s underwater video, a diver punctuates the action, but her splash is secondary to the steady undulations of currents and refracted light.
In the galleries: A focus on the intersection of art and movement|Mark Jenkins|February 26, 2021|Washington Post

Ions in the air act like drops of mist; they refract sunshine and make rainbows after rain.
Operation Terror|William Fitzgerald Jenkins
In the Phædrus, which is the supplement of the Symposion, he made it refract something approaching the splendor of truth revealed.
Historia Amoris: A History of Love, Ancient and Modern|Edgar Saltus
Because they refract the rays of light in the same manner as the rain drops.
The Reason Why|Anonymous
I must get these reds to balance, or the whole thing will never refract properly at all.
The Genius|Con Pederson
Ammoniacal copper sulphate forms with picric acid yellow-green crystals which strongly refract the light.
Poisons: Their Effects and Detection|Alexander Wynter Blyth

British Dictionary definitions for refract

refract

/ (rɪˈfrækt) /

verb (tr)

to cause to undergo refraction

to measure the refractive capabilities of (the eye, a lens, etc)

Derived forms of refract

refractable, adjective

Word Origin for refract

C17: from Latin refractus broken up, from refringere, from re- + frangere to break

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

Medical definitions for refract

refract

[ rĭ-frăkt′ ]

To deflect something, especially light, from a straight path by refraction.

To determine the refraction of an eye or a lens.

refract

Origin of refract

OTHER WORDS FROM refract

Words nearby refract

Words related to refract

How to use refract in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for refract

Derived forms of refract

Word Origin for refract

Medical definitions for refract