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reflect
in a sentence
grouped by contextual meaning

reflect as in:  reflect in the mirror

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She saw her face reflected in his sunglasses.
reflected = shone back
Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
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    The pond reflected her image.
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    Why is the writing on my t-shirt backwards when its reflected in a mirror?
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    The door opens into a sterile-smelling hall with bright-white walls and white-tile floors that reflect us.  (source)
    reflect = show an image back (as on a mirror or other shiny surface)
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Show 10 more with 6 word variations
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    Harry could see himself reflected in those misty eyes.  (source)
    reflected = shown back
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    And always the dream ended with a mirror or a pool of water or the metal surface of a ship, something that would reflect his face back to him.  (source)
    reflect = shine back an image of
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    If only, if only, the moon speaks no reply; Reflecting the sun and all that's gone by.  (source)
    Reflecting = bouncing light back
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    The language of Shushtari, with its abundance of animal and plant imagery, reflects the simple agricultural life of its residents.†  (source)
    reflects = mirrors back (an image)
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    I am convinced that fine art is the subtlest, the most seductive, the most effective instrument of moral propaganda in the world, excepting only the example of personal conduct; and I waive even this exception in favor of the art of the stage, because it works by exhibiting examples of personal conduct made intelligible and moving to crowds of unobservant, unreflecting people to whom real life means nothing.†  (source)
    unreflecting = not mirroring back (an image)
    standard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unreflecting means not and reverses the meaning of reflecting. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
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    Its glossy, reflective surfaces and moneyed environments seemed invincible.  (source)
    reflective = shiny (a little mirror-like)
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    The band's name and the album's title were printed over a field of stars, and below that, appearing as if reflected in the surface of a rippling lake, was the symbol I'd seen on the Black Tiger game's monitor: a red five-pointed star enclosed in a circle.  (source)
    reflected = mirrored back
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    Ramona's eyes, behind thick, counter-myopia lenses, did not reflect even the smallest part of Mary Jane's enthusiasm.  (source)
    reflect = mirror back an image (used figuratively)
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    I startle when I catch someone staring at me from only a few inches away and then realize it's my own face reflecting back in the glass.  (source)
    reflecting = showing back
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    I look at the shard, at the way it reflects the wood-paneled wall looking old and brittle in the glass.†  (source)
    reflects = mirrors back (an image)
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reflect as in:  reflect American Values

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    The restaurant's success reflects desire in the community to eat healthy food.
    reflects = demonstrates
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    Her premature death reflects a broken health care system.
    reflects = demonstrates or represents
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    We want the members of our police force to reflect the diversity of our community.
    reflect = represent
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Show 10 more with 5 word variations
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    Those skinny models don't reflect the customers who purchase our clothing.
    reflect = represent
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    His expression reflected both disbelief and humiliation.  (source)
    reflected = showed
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    Government Reflects Human Nature; Angels Don't Need Government  (source)
    Reflects = demonstrates (corresponds to)
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    In an unobstructed sky the clouds seem more massive, sometimes grandly reflecting the earth's curvature on their concave undersides.  (source)
    reflecting = expressed
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    The Fab Five sported baggy shorts, bald heads, and a swagger I recognized from the streets of the Bronx, all reflective of the way the hip-hop generation was changing the face of sports, and college basketball in particular.  (source)
    reflective = demonstrative (showing or demonstrating)
    standard suffix: The suffix "-ive" converts a word into an adjective; though over time, what was originally an adjective often comes to be used as a noun. The adjective pattern means tending to and is seen in words like attractive, impressive, and supportive. Examples of the noun include narrative, alternative, and detective.
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    As you know, it's customary to reflect the flavor of the district. For the opening ceremonies, you're supposed to wear something that suggests your district's principal industry.  (source)
    reflect = represent, demonstrate, or express
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    This correspondence, as one might expect, reflected sharply divergent points of view: Some readers admired the boy immensely for his courage and noble ideals; others fulminated that he was a reckless idiot, a wacko, a narcissist who perished out of arrogance and stupidity...  (source)
    reflected = expressed
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    Why else would they harshly criticize a part of the Constitution that reflects the feelings of America as seen in the Articles of Confederation and State constitutions?  (source)
    reflects = demonstrates or represents
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    Maybe the fear and nausea was no longer a sea to drown in, but only a pool of water reflecting the past alongside the now.  (source)
    reflecting = showing
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    I understood the story ended because Anna died or got too sick to write and this midsentence thing was supposed to reflect how life really ends and whatever, but there were characters other than Anna in the story, and it seemed unfair that I would never find out what happened to them.  (source)
    reflect = show
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reflect as in:  I want to reflect on it.

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At the beginning of this passage, the author reflects on her life as a waitress.
reflects = thinks carefully
Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
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    As I reflect on my life, I realize that it's relationships that matter most.
    reflect = think carefully
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    I need more time to reflect.
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    I've led a hectic life, but when I retire I want to slow down, reflect, and possibly write a book with some of my reflections.
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Show 10 more with 7 word variations
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    As the first light of morning trickled into the tower room, Violet reflected on all the awful things she and her siblings had experienced recently.  (source)
    reflected = thought
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    In trying to understand McCandless, I inevitably came to reflect on other, larger subjects as well: the grip wilderness has on the American imagination, the allure high-risk activities hold for young men of a certain mind, the complicated, highly charged bond that exists between fathers and sons.  (source)
    reflect = think
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    When I surveyed the damage there were only seven or eight red marks, and I was reflecting upon relativity when someone knocked on the door.  (source)
    reflecting = thinking
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    "Sometimes you just need to dig for the sake of digging," Bob reflects.  (source)
    reflects = expresses a thought
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    "I wonder," I said reflectively, "what an elephant's soul is like!"  (source)
    reflectively = thoughtfully
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    The evening proceeded as all evenings did in the family unit, in the dwelling, in the community: quiet, reflective, a time for renewal and preparation for the day to come.  (source)
    reflective = thoughtful
    standard suffix: The suffix "-ive" converts a word into an adjective; though over time, what was originally an adjective often comes to be used as a noun. The adjective pattern means tending to and is seen in words like attractive, impressive, and supportive. Examples of the noun include narrative, alternative, and detective.
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    But none of them had ever uttered such unreflective tripe.  (source)
    unreflective = unthinking
    standard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unreflective means not and reverses the meaning of reflective. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
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    John is a part of the family already, she reflected. We have all come to love him.  (source)
    reflected = thought
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    When you reflect on this past year, I want you all to look at where you are now and where you've been.  (source)
    reflect = think carefully
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    I know it's not a big significance, but reflecting on it afterward it seemed symbolic and special that the photo shoot took place on my mother's birthday!  (source)
    reflecting = thinking
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reflect as in:  reflect poorly on the school

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The failing test scores would reflect poorly on the school.
reflect = influence opinion
Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
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    The inaccurate report reflected poorly on the newspaper.
    reflected = influenced opinion (as specified)
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    Winning the national championship would reflect positively on the whole school.
    reflect = influence opinion
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    They won't call attention to my rudeness because it would reflect on their parenting.  (source)
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Show 10 more with 4 word variations
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    Funny, in the arena, when I poured out those berries, I was only thinking of outsmarting the Gamemakers, not how my actions would reflect on the Capitol.  (source)
    reflect = influence opinion about
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    Every son reflects upon his mother.  (source)
    reflects = influences opinion
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    Wood, too, was basking in the reflected glory of the Firebolt.  (source)
    reflected = influencing opinion
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    I cannot, before Mr. Yates, speak what I feel as to this play, without reflecting on his friends at Ecclesford; but I must now, my dear Maria, tell you, that I think it exceedingly unfit for private representation, and that I hope you will give it up.  (source)
    reflecting = indirectly voicing opinion
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    A fifteen-year-old running away from home like that — it would reflect badly on the family.  (source)
    reflect = influence opinion
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    Oh, it's sad, very sad that the old adage has been confirmed for the umpteenth time: "What one Christian does is his own responsibility, what one Jew does reflects on all Jews."  (source)
    reflects = influences opinion
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    But each such error reflected negatively on his parents' guidance and infringed on the community's sense of order and success.  (source)
    reflected = influenced opinion
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    And since their rejection might stigmatize the nominee and reflect badly on the President's judgment, they will rarely reject a nominee except when there are strong reasons.  (source)
    reflect = influence opinion
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    I am sure it reflects great credit on your grandfather, but you cannot pretend that you ever made the vast extent of his wealth clear to me.  (source)
    reflects = demonstrates
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    She put me on the list of organizers, not only to keep me hopping but because it would reflect well on Richard.  (source)
    reflect = influence opinion
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reflect as in:  reflect the light/heat/sound

Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
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    Reflective highway signs save lives.
    reflective = having the characteristic of bouncing back light
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    I wear a reflective jacket when I bicycle at night.
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    We get an echo when the sound reflects off of the canyon walls.
    reflects = bounces back
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Show 10 more with 10 word variations
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    I just sat in the police car next to Richard, wrapped in a reflective blanket like the one I had in my "head for the hills" bag.  (source)
    reflective = having the characteristic of holding heat
    standard suffix: The suffix "-ive" converts a word into an adjective; though over time, what was originally an adjective often comes to be used as a noun. The adjective pattern means tending to and is seen in words like attractive, impressive, and supportive. Examples of the noun include narrative, alternative, and detective.
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    Paul sat reflectively for a moment, re-read the last line (mentally filling in the omissions), and then simply went back to work.†  (source)
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    Something bright reflected from his chest with such intensity that the boy was momentarily blinded.  (source)
    reflected = shined back
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    At the end of this path I could see something shiny and metallic reflecting the moonlight.  (source)
    reflecting = shining (bouncing back)
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    The material in the jacket's designed to reflect body heat.  (source)
    reflect = bounce back
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    The sun reflects off the metal of the train, stinging Enrique's eyes, draining the little energy he has left.  (source)
    reflects = shines (bounces back)
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    Later, when the journeys to Europe ceased, he still had shown his children all sorts of indulgence, and if he had been troubled about money-matters nothing ever disturbed their irreflective consciousness of many possessions.†  (source)
    irreflective = not having the characteristic of or relating to bouncing back light/heat/sound...
    standard prefix: The prefix "ir-" in irreflective means not and reverses the meaning of reflective. This prefix is sometimes used before words beginning with "R" as seen in words like irrational, irregular, and irresistible.
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    Now she watched him with a tender sympathy, a reflectiveness that seemed deep and fond and generous enough to contain all the magical counterspells to his current run of woe, although I knew, of course, as I went back to my book, that it was only a passing affection, one of those kindnesses no one understands.†  (source)
    reflectiveness = the characteristic of bouncing back light/heat/sound...
    standard suffix: The suffix "-ness" converts an adjective to a noun. This is the same pattern you see in words like darkness, kindness, and coolness.
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    And beneath such unspoken words, while with her weak eyes she bent deeply to her mending, her generous and unreflective spirit was more deeply grieved than she could find thought for, and more resolute than any thought for resoluteness could have made it.†  (source)
    unreflective = not bouncing back light/heat/sound...
    standard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unreflective means not and reverses the meaning of reflective. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
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    One of the most incredible characteristics she named "gain reflectivity."†  (source)
    reflectivity = the quality of or ability to bounce back light (or more rarely: heat, sound, electromagnetic waves...)
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