[syn: automatic, reflex(a), reflexive]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Reflex \Re"flex\ (r?"fl?ks; formerly r?*fl?ks"), n. [L. reflexus
a bending back. See Reflect.]
1. Reflection; the light reflected from an illuminated
surface to one in shade.
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Yon gray is not the morning's eye,
'Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia's brow. --Shak.
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On the depths of death there swims
The reflex of a human face. --Tennyson.
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2. (Physiol.) An involuntary movement produced by reflex
action.
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Patellar reflex. See Knee jerk, under Knee.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Reflex \Re*flex"\ (r?*fl?ks"), v. t. [L. reflexus, p. p. of
reflectere. See Reflect.]
1. To reflect. [Obs.] --Shak.
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2. To bend back; to turn back. --J. Gregory.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Reflex \Re"flex\ (r?"fl?ks), a. [L. reflexus, p. p. of
reflectere: cf. F. r['e]flexe. See Reflect.]
1. Directed back; attended by reflection; retroactive;
introspective.
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The reflex act of the soul, or the turning of the
intellectual eye inward upon its own actions. --Sir
M. Hale.
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2. Produced in reaction, in resistance, or in return.
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3. (Physiol.) Of, pertaining to, or produced by, stimulus or
excitation without the necessary intervention of
consciousness.
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Reflex action (Physiol.), any action performed
involuntarily in consequence of an impulse or impression
transmitted along afferent nerves to a nerve center, from
which it is reflected to an efferent nerve, and so calls
into action certain muscles, organs, or cells.
Reflex nerve (Physiol.), an excito-motory nerve. See
Exito-motory.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
reflex
adj 1: without volition or conscious control; "the automatic
shrinking of the pupils of the eye in strong light"; "a
reflex knee jerk"; "sneezing is reflexive" [syn:
automatic, reflex(a), reflexive]
n 1: an automatic instinctive unlearned reaction to a stimulus
[syn: reflex, reflex response, reflex action,
instinctive reflex, innate reflex, inborn reflex,
unconditioned reflex, physiological reaction]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
150 Moby Thesaurus words for "reflex":
Pavlovian conditioning, action and reaction, adumbration, answer,
antiphonal, arch, automatic, automatic reaction,
automatic response, autonomic reaction, back, backlash, backward,
backwash, behavior, bend, bend back, blind, blind impulse,
bounceback, bow, brain wave, brainstorm, casual, clout, compulsive,
conditioned, conditioned response, conditioning, counter, crook,
curl, curve, decurve, deflect, dome, drive, echo, embow, fancy,
flash, fleeting impulse, flex, force, forced, gut, gut response,
hook, hump, hunch, ill-advised, ill-considered, ill-devised,
impact, impress, impression, imprint, impulse, impulsive,
inadvertent, incurvate, incurve, indeliberate, inflect,
inspiration, instinct, instinctive, instrumental conditioning,
involuntary, involuntary impulse, loop, mark, mechanical,
natural impulse, negative reinforcement, notion,
operant conditioning, outline, positive reinforcement,
predictable response, print, psychagogy, quick hunch, reacting,
reaction, reactionary, reactive, recoil, recurve, reeducation,
reflect, reflection, reflex action, reflexive, refluence, refluent,
reflux, reinforcement, reorientation, repercussion, reply,
respondence, respondent, responding, response, responsive,
retroaction, retroactionary, retroactive, retroflex, return,
reverberation, reversed, revulsion, revulsive, rise, round, sag,
shadow, silhouette, snap, spontaneous, sudden thought, swag, sweep,
turn, turned around, unadvised, uncalculated, unconditioned reflex,
unconscious, unconsidered, undeliberate, undeliberated, undesigned,
unintended, unintentional, unmeditated, unpremeditated, unstudied,
unthinking, unthinking response, unwilled, unwilling, unwitting,
urge, vault, wind, wrong-way, wrong-way around