refract

verb

re·​fract ri-ˈfrakt 

refracted; refracting; refracts

transitive verb

1

a

: to subject (something, such as a ray of light) to refraction

Between them, Kirchhoff and Bunsen developed the spectroscope, which uses a prism to refract light.

—Paul Strathern

b

: to alter or distort as if by refraction

"Nope" is his twist on the alien-invasion film as refracted through the prism of [filmmaker] David Lynch.

—Cary Darling

Too often Indian food, and later Chinese—then the two most favored and accepted of foreign cuisines—became refracted through the prism of British food.

—Nigella Lawson

2

: to determine the refracting power of

refract a lens

intransitive verb

: to be subjected to refraction

The head of the figure is often surrounded by rings of coloured light caused by light diffraction. Like with a rainbow, this is caused by light refracting through tiny droplets of water in the air.

—Olivia Jones

Examples of refract in a Sentence

Light is refracted when it hits water.

Recent Examples on the Web

Lenses can also suffer from a malaise known as chromatic aberration, in which different wavelengths of light are refracted to slightly different degrees so that different colors come to focus at different points, resulting in color fringing around objects. —Keith Cooper, Space.com, 20 Mar. 2025

Its briefly striking color is caused by sunlight filtering through Earth’s atmosphere and refracting onto the moon’s surface, with smoke or ash in the atmosphere contributing to the exact colors seen. —Jamie Carter, Forbes, 9 Mar. 2025

Engineers and astronomers at the University of Utah have designed a unique new kind of telescope lens: a flat lens with microscopic etchings to refract light. —Keith Cooper, Space.com, 20 Mar. 2025

Unlike an eclipse at midday, where the sun is high and powerful, this event offered an unusual opportunity to see the distorted, refracted solar horns emerge through Earth's thickest atmospheric layers at the horizon. —Jamie Carter, Space.com, 31 Mar. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Latin refractus, past participle of refringere to break open, break up, from re- + frangere to break — more at break

First Known Use

1563, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for refract

• abstract
• attacked
• attract
• contact
• contract
• detract
• distract
• enact
• exact
• extract
• hijacked
• impact

Kids Definition

refract

verb

re·​fract ri-ˈfrakt 

: to cause to go through refraction

Medical Definition

refract

transitive verb

re·​fract ri-ˈfrakt 

1

: to subject (as a ray of light) to refraction

2

: to determine the refracting power of or abnormality of refraction in (as an eye or a lens)