reflect

«reflect» in Mova's school dictionary: When a surface reflects light, sound or heat, it sends it… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (reflect, reflects, reflected, reflecting)

meaning for a pupil

1) When a surface reflects light, sound or heat, it sends it back. tree →

2) A mirror or water reflects you when it shows your image. tree →

3) To reflect on something means to think about it carefully. tree →

4) To reflect something can mean to show it, like a face reflecting how someone feels. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science, light reflects off mirrors and shiny surfaces, which is how we see things; the Moon shines because it reflects sunlight. White and shiny things reflect heat, so light clothes keep you cooler. In safety, reflective strips on bags and jackets help drivers see you at night. In maths, to reflect a shape means to flip it in a mirror line (a reflection). In school, teachers ask you to «reflect on your learning» — think about what went well.

examples

• A mirror reflects light. tree →
• The Moon reflects light from the Sun. tree →
• The trees were reflected in the lake. tree →
• Reflect the triangle in the dotted line. tree →
• Wear something that reflects light when you walk at night. tree →
• Take a minute to reflect on what you learned today. tree →
• White roofs reflect heat and keep houses cool. tree →
• Her smile reflected how happy she was. tree →
• Smee reflected. “I can’t think of a thing,” he said regretfully. tree →

note

Regular verb: reflected, reflecting. Noun «reflection». In maths a reflection makes a mirror image: the shape is the same size but flipped, each point the same distance from the mirror line. Reflect (bounce back) is different from «absorb» (soak up). The Moon does not make its own light.

In the corpora

• Birds crash into windows because they see reflected trees and sky, and stickers on the glass break up the reflection.
• Water, sand and snow reflect UV, so you can burn even under an umbrella or on a ski slope.
• The Moon makes no light of its own; it shines by reflecting sunlight.
• Isaac Newton built an early working reflecting telescope in 1668.
• Road lines are painted with special paint that has tiny glass beads in it, so the lines reflect headlights at night.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «reflect» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.