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refract

verb

Simple meaning

To cause to change direction as a result of entering a different medium.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

ruhfrakt

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ɹəfˈɹækt

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. transitiveoptics

    To cause (light) to change direction as a result of entering a different medium.

  2. transitiveophthalmology

    To measure, and often also to correct with lenses, the refractive error of (an eye) or the eyes of (a person).

  3. transitivefigurative

    To mediate; to alter; to distort.

  4. transitivephysics

    Of a medium, substance, object, etc.: to deflect the course of (light rays), esp. when they enter the medium, etc., at an oblique angle; to cause refraction of (light, other electromagnetic radiation, or sound or other wave phenomena).

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient (estimated)

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: (transitive, optics) To cause (light) to change direction as a result of entering a different medium.

Used this way, refract is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use refract

  • “Refract a light beam.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

To measure, and often also to correct

lenses refract

Determine

cataract refract

Other combinations

refract throughrefract mapcat refractrefract back

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • refractiveadjectiveDerived adjective

    Related to To cause (light) to change direction as a result of entering a different medium.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • refracting telescopenounCompound term

    Optical telescope that has a large convex lens that produces an image that is viewed through the eyepiece.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • angle of refractionnounRelated term

    The angle between a refracted ray and a line perpendicular to the surface between the two media at the point of refraction.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.