reflex

«reflex» in Mova's school dictionary: something your body does by itself, very quickly, without… — 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

noun (reflex, reflexes); adjective use (a reflex action)

meaning for a pupil

1) A reflex is something your body does by itself, very quickly, without you deciding to, such as blinking when something flies at your eye or pulling your hand off a hot pan. tree →

2) Reflexes are how quickly you can react: a goalkeeper with fast reflexes. tree →

3) In maths, a reflex angle is an angle bigger than 180 degrees but smaller than 360 degrees. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science (the body), reflexes protect you: the message goes from the nerves to the spinal cord and straight back to the muscles, faster than thinking; the doctor taps your knee to test the knee-jerk reflex. In maths, angles are named acute (less than 90°), right (90°), obtuse (between 90° and 180°), straight (180°) and reflex (between 180° and 360°). In sports and stories it shows quick reactions. Phrases: quick reflexes, a reflex action, reflex angle.

examples

• I blinked as a reflex when the ball flew at my face. tree →
• Pulling your hand away from a hot plate is a reflex. tree →
• The doctor tapped my knee and my leg kicked by itself. tree →
• Our goalkeeper has amazing reflexes. tree →
• A reflex angle is bigger than a straight line. tree →
• An angle of 270 degrees is a reflex angle. tree →
• Sneezing and coughing are reflexes that clear your nose and throat. tree →

note

Plural: reflexes. A reflex is not chosen, so you cannot easily stop it. Maths trap: a reflex angle is more than 180° but less than 360°; 180° exactly is a straight angle, 360° a full turn. To find a reflex angle from the small angle on the other side, subtract from 360: if the small angle is 60°, the reflex angle is 300°.

In the corpora

• A sneeze is a reflex that blasts air out of the nose and mouth to clear something irritating, like dust or pepper.
• The story that your eyes pop out if you sneeze with them open is not true; closing them is just a reflex.
• A snake that looks dead can still bite by reflex, so it must never be touched.
• Some people faint at the sight of blood because their heart slows and blood pressure drops; it is a reflex, not weakness.
• People sometimes laugh by reflex when someone falls; a real friend stops and helps when they see you are hurt.

Trees and pragmatics

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