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reflexive |
3 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Reflexive \Re*flex"ive\ (-?v), a. 1. [Cf. F. r['e]flexif.] Bending or turned backward; reflective; having respect to something past. Assurance reflexive can not be a divine faith. --Hammond. 2. Implying censure. [Obs.] ``What man does not resent an ugly reflexive word?'' --South. 3. (Gram.) Having for its direct object a pronoun which refers to the agent or subject as its antecedent; -- said of certain verbs; as the witness perjured himself; I bethought myself. Applied also to pronouns of this class; reciprocal; reflective. -- {Re*flex"ive*ly}, adv -- {Re*flex"ive*ness}, n. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: reflexive adj 1: (physiology) 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)}] 2: (grammar) referring back to itself [syn: {self-referent}] n : a personal pronoun compounded with -self to show the agent's action affects itself [syn: {reflexive pronoun}] From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (13 Mar 01) [foldoc]: reflexiveA {relation} R is reflexive if for all x, x R x. {Equivalence relations}, {pre-orders}, {partial orders} and {total orders} are all reflexive. (1999-01-28)
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