refract

American  

[ri-frakt] / rɪˈfrækt /

verb (used with object)

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

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

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

Example Sentences

The water vapor refracts the intense glare of headlights back toward the driver in a way that actually decreases visibility.

From Los Angeles Times

The demise of languages winnows the number of prisms through which to refract the world.

From Washington Post

You can easily imagine this being the way Parks sees the world refracted back to her, conversing with the dead, building abstractions.

From New York Times

He highlighted Liatoshynsky’s text painting in the first song, “Reeds,” with strings that rustled like paper and then refracted like shards of light.

From New York Times

As "On Nixon's Madness" author Dr. Zachary Jonathan Jacobson explained to Salon, both Nixon and Trump were men whose mental illnesses reflected and refracted the pervasive political impulses of their time.

From Salon