refract
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to subject to refraction.
-
to determine the refractive condition of (an eye).
verb
-
to cause to undergo refraction
-
to measure the refractive capabilities of (the eye, a lens, etc)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
refractednessnoun
-
nonrefractingadjective
-
refractableadjective
-
unrefractedadjective
-
unrefractingadjective
-
refractedlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
refractsimple
-
refractssimple
-
have refractedperfect
-
has refractedperfect
-
am refractingprogressive
-
are refractingprogressive
-
is refractingprogressive
-
have been refractingperfect progressive
-
has been refractingperfect progressive
Past
-
refractedsimple
-
had refractedperfect
-
was refractingprogressive
-
were refractingprogressive
-
had been refractingperfect progressive
Future
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."
Vocabulary lists containing refract
Give Me a Break!: Fract and Frag
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Unwind
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Breadcrumbs
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Our legal institutions and the broader culture refract their policy values back at each other.
From Slate ● May 26, 2026
Apparently, a lot of folks feel seeing people in the real world is too taxing, and it's easier to refract your urge for connection to an app that offers only an inch-deep simulacrum.
From Salon ● Jan. 19, 2025
The same physics that makes light refract into patterns on the bottom of a swimming pool or causes stars to twinkle in the night sky also causes DISS.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 26, 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
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
It is also known as a Bravais' arc, and is formed when sunlight enters horizontal ice crystals and refracts through a side prism face, which causes the upside-down effect.
From BBC ● May 29, 2023
The water vapor refracts the intense glare of headlights back toward the driver in a way that actually decreases visibility.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2023
Of course—he had forgotten that water refracts, bends light.
From "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen
Horsebit details and other house codes surfaced throughout, refracted through Demna’s more pointed, urban lens.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
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
So lifting, the dynamic of lifting through asking how do things feel, refracted into the rest of my life.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2025
The reddish color comes from the light being refracted by particles in the atmosphere.
From Slate ● Apr. 5, 2024
It shows that in forming a rainbow each ray from the sun is twice refracted and twice reflected as it passes through a drop of water before reaching the eye.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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
Low-lying clouds and precipitation, they realized, were refracting echoes from the shoreline back to the radar, much as a glass lens bends the path of visible light.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 17, 2023
Light rippled along the blade, refracting into a rainbow.
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
