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reflexive

American  
[ri-flek-siv] / rɪˈflɛk sɪv /

adjective

  1. Grammar.

    1. (of a verb) taking a subject and object with identical referents, as shave in I shave myself.

    2. (of a pronoun) used as an object to refer to the subject of a verb, as myself in I shave myself.

  2. reflex; responsive.

  3. able to reflect; reflective.

  4. Mathematics.

    1. noting a relation in which each element is in relation to itself, as the relation “less than or equal to.”

    2. (of a vector space) having the property that the dual space of the dual space of the given vector space equals the given vector space.

noun

  1. Grammar. a reflexive verb or pronoun.

reflexive British  
/ rɪˈflɛksɪv, ˌriːflɛkˈsɪvɪtɪ /

adjective

  1. denoting a class of pronouns that refer back to the subject of a sentence or clause. Thus, in the sentence that man thinks a great deal of himself , the pronoun himself is reflexive

  2. denoting a verb used transitively with the reflexive pronoun as its direct object, as the French se lever "to get up" (literally "to raise oneself") or English to dress oneself

  3. physiol of or relating to a reflex

  4. logic maths (of a relation) holding between any member of its domain and itself Compare irreflexive nonreflexive

    "… is a member of the same family as …" is reflexive
"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

noun

  1. a reflexive pronoun or verb

"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
reflexive Scientific  
/ rĭ-flĕk′sĭv /

  1. Of or relating to a mathematical or logical relation such that, for any given element, that element has the given relation to itself. Equality in mathematics is a reflexive relation, since a = a for all a, whereas the relation of being 'less than' is not, since it is not true that a

Other Word Forms

  • reflexively adverb
  • reflexiveness noun
  • reflexivity noun
  • semireflexive adjective
  • semireflexively adverb
  • semireflexiveness noun

Etymology

Origin of reflexive

First recorded in 1580–90, reflexive is from the Medieval Latin word reflexīvus turned back, reflected. See reflex, -ive

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.