Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Directed back on itself.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or being a verb having an identical subject and direct object, as dressed in the sentence She dressed herself.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or being the pronoun used as the direct object of a reflexive verb, as herself in She dressed herself.
  • adjective Of or relating to a reflex.
  • adjective Elicited automatically; spontaneous.
  • noun A reflexive verb or pronoun.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Reflective; bending or turning backward; having respect to something past.
  • Capable of reflection; reflective.
  • Casting or containing a reflection or censure.
  • noun A reflexive verb or pronoun.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Bending or turned backward; reflective; having respect to something past.
  • adjective obsolete Implying censure.
  • adjective (Gram.) Having for its direct object a pronoun which refers to the agent or subject as its antecedent; -- said of certain verbs

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective grammar Having a subject and object that are the same.
  • adjective set theory Of a relation R on a set S, such that xRx for all members x of S (that is, the relation holds between any element of the set and itself).
  • noun A reflexive pronoun.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a personal pronoun compounded with -self to show the agent's action affects the agent
  • adjective without volition or conscious control
  • adjective referring back to itself

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Medieval Latin reflexivus, from Latin reflexus.

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Examples

  • My source, who prefers not to be named out of fear at what she described as a reflexive tendency toward "butthurt" against public criticism of Filipino cultural institutions, went on to say the following:

    Planet Atheism 2009

  • We know certainly know your perceptions, which appear to be based in reflexive emotion and bias, but not rational analysis.

    Debates: Fall Calendar Fills Up - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com 2008

  • I am weak in reflexive verbs and in object pronouns but since nobody else has responded yet, let me try ... súbetelo (note the accent) would mean to me "carry it up yourself" (the te in this case meaning yourself) while súbelo would mean lift it up, put it up.

    Reflexive verbs 2007

  • I am weak in reflexive verbs and in object pronouns but since nobody else has responded yet, let me try ... súbetelo (note the accent) would mean to me "carry it up yourself" (the te in this case meaning yourself) while súbelo would mean lift it up, put it up.

    Reflexive verbs 2007

  • I am weak in reflexive verbs and in object pronouns but since nobody else has responded yet, let me try ... súbetelo (note the accent) would mean to me "carry it up yourself" (the te in this case meaning yourself) while súbelo would mean lift it up, put it up.

    Reflexive verbs 2007

  • I am weak in reflexive verbs and in object pronouns but since nobody else has responded yet, let me try ... súbetelo (note the accent) would mean to me "carry it up yourself" (the te in this case meaning yourself) while súbelo would mean lift it up, put it up.

    Reflexive verbs 2007

  • I am weak in reflexive verbs and in object pronouns but since nobody else has responded yet, let me try ... súbetelo (note the accent) would mean to me "carry it up yourself" (the te in this case meaning yourself) while súbelo would mean lift it up, put it up.

    Reflexive verbs 2007

  • I am weak in reflexive verbs and in object pronouns but since nobody else has responded yet, let me try ... súbetelo (note the accent) would mean to me "carry it up yourself" (the te in this case meaning yourself) while súbelo would mean lift it up, put it up.

    Reflexive verbs 2007

  • I am weak in reflexive verbs and in object pronouns but since nobody else has responded yet, let me try ... súbetelo (note the accent) would mean to me "carry it up yourself" (the te in this case meaning yourself) while súbelo would mean lift it up, put it up.

    Reflexive verbs 2007

  • I am weak in reflexive verbs and in object pronouns but since nobody else has responded yet, let me try ... súbetelo (note the accent) would mean to me "carry it up yourself" (the te in this case meaning yourself) while súbelo would mean lift it up, put it up.

    Reflexive verbs 2007

Comments

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  • reflexive

    February 19, 2007

  • Used frequently in counselor training - often confused with reflective for some reason.

    June 28, 2008