reflection

Etymology

From Middle French reflexion, reflection, and its source Late Latin reflexio, from the participle stem of reflectō. The current spelling is influenced by reflect.

noun

1. The act of reflecting or the state of being reflected.
2. The property of a propagated wave being thrown back from a surface (such as a mirror).
3. Something, such as an image, that is reflected.
   The dog barked at his own reflection in the mirror.
4. Careful thought or consideration.
   After careful reflection, I have decided not to vote for that proposition.
   But Richmond, his grandfather's darling, after one thoughtful glance cast under his lashes at that uncompromising countenance appeared to lose himself in his own reflections. 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax
5. A representative manifestation or outcome of a condition, trend or trait.
   Our recent results are a reflection of the progress we've made as a team.
   Zuckerberg said last month that the name change was a reflection of how much Facebook had evolved. 11 Nov 2021, “When a Logo Doesn’t Risk It All: Meta’s Brand Is Designed for Unknown Worlds”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2023-08-04
   1. (followed by on) Used to make an implied criticism.
      It is a reflection on his character that he never came back to see them.
6. (computing) The process or mechanism of determining the capabilities of an object at run-time.
   DynamicMBeanFacade uses Java's reflection API to introspect the managed resource and discover data type information for attributes. 2002, Java Enterprise Best Practices, O'Reilly
7. (anatomy) The folding of a part; a fold.