refract

American  

[ri-frakt] / rɪˈfrækt /

verb (used with object)

• refracts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• refracted,
  past participle,  past
• refracting
  present participle

1. to subject to refraction.

2. to determine the refractive condition of (an eye).

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refract British  

/ rɪˈfrækt /

verb

1. to cause to undergo refraction

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

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• refractedness
  noun
• nonrefracting
  adjective
• refractable
  adjective
• unrefracted
  adjective
• unrefracting
  adjective
• refractedly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• refracting
  present
• refracted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• refract
  simple
• refracts
  simple
• have refracted
  perfect
• has refracted
  perfect
• am refracting
  progressive
• are refracting
  progressive
• is refracting
  progressive
• have been refracting
  perfect progressive
• has been refracting
  perfect progressive

Past

• refracted
  simple
• had refracted
  perfect
• was refracting
  progressive
• were refracting
  progressive
• had been refracting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will refract
  simple
• will have refracted
  perfect
• will be refracting
  progressive
• will have been refracting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

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

Explanation

Things that refract light — like lenses and prisms — bend it. If you've looked through a water droplet on a car windshield, you've seen water refract light. You're most likely to come across the verb refract when you're studying physics and the properties of light waves. We come across examples of this everyday, though — when you study a straw in a glass of water, you see the water refract light in a way that makes the straw look bent or jagged. A rainbow also happens when raindrops refract light, breaking it into its component colors. In Latin, refract means "broken up."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

refract refracts refracted refracting

Our legal institutions and the broader culture refract their policy values back at each other.

From Slate ● May 26, 2026

Their stories reflect and refract the themes of “On the Road” for today.

From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2025

Unlike the shallow foveae found in human eyes, bird eyes have deep central foveae, which refract the incoming light to a large extent.

From Science Daily ● May 30, 2024

“We mourn her loss but it’s a comfort to know that her penetrating works will dazzle, shine and refract in the minds of readers for generations to come,” Farmer said.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 17, 2023

They refract it through their glasses so she cannot see, so she cannot identify the guilty ones.

From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García

To work around this, I decided to use a 'star filter' - a layer of glass attached to the front of the lens that refracts light in a specific way.

From BBC ● Dec. 25, 2025

We might be told that color has something to do with light, or even be shown a prism, through which light refracts to produce a rainbow.

From Salon ● Nov. 16, 2024

In the retina of an animal's eye, there is a small pit called the fovea that refracts the light entering the eye.

From Science Daily ● May 30, 2024

The monitor plastic refracts light so that you can simultaneously see the front and side of any subject that’s placed behind it.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 20, 2023

Above his head, light refracts through the water tank, the symbol of the compound’s slow, pointless struggle.

From "Allegiant" by Veronica Roth

What it also made clear is that Coachella is no longer a single cultural event but several overlapping ones divided across weekends, refracted through screens and increasingly calibrated for different audiences altogether.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 26, 2026

It’s enough to make a reader hanker for a volume devoted to the director’s long working relationship with Head or for a filmography refracted through the actresses he obsessed over and glorified.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025

These machines shoot UV light tens of thousands of times through drops of molten tin, which creates a plasma, and is then refracted through a series of specialised mirrors.

From BBC ● May 18, 2025

The reddish color comes from the light being refracted by particles in the atmosphere.

From Slate ● Apr. 5, 2024

The north wall of the Library was made entirely of glass, with doors leading to a terraced greenhouse that refracted light like a prism.

From "The Reader" by Traci Chee

Mr. Self has great fun refracting the details of who did what to whom and where.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026

Democritus believed that light refracting through atoms caused the phenomenon that we perceive and describe conventionally, or by mutual agreement, as color.

From Salon ● Nov. 16, 2024

Smartphones can act as anxiety incubators, amplifying the sense of abundant possibility like a prism refracting light.

From Slate ● Aug. 3, 2024

In keeping with the Wooster way, he is both revealing and refracting, straddling the boundary between reality and its representation.

From New York Times ● Jan. 12, 2024

I wondered if there was a big fire somewhere, but in the morning Lori told me that the orange glow came from the air pollution refracting the light off the streets and buildings.

From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls