-
Trending Now:
More Trending:
- scaramouch non sequitur admiral's mast calumny kakistocracy
- ALL
Definition of refract
transitive verb
1a : to subject (something, such as a ray of light) to refractionb : to alter or distort as if by refraction to refract that familiar world through the mind and heart of a romantic … woman — Anton Myrer
2 : to determine the refracting power of
People Are Reading
Examples of refract in a Sentence
Light is refracted when it hits water.
Recent Examples of refract from the Web
-
Overlooking the port, its 38 terraced rooms are adorned with vintage Ibiza photos and stainless steel wall panels that refract sunlight in wave-like patterns.
-
An abrupt beginning of glowering brass and rattled bows released into an interlacing texture of sliding harmonics, bowed metal and muted brass, the wind timbres mixing and refracting.
-
But Paris is only the most recent and consequential example of this tendency to refract key decisions through the lens of who would be most annoyed.
-
Here are sentences that feel athletic enough to sprint on for pages, feinting in different directions at once, dropping disparate allusions, tossing off witty asides, refracting competing ironies.
-
Spend the morning at the South Carolina State Museum, with an observatory featuring a 1926 Alvan Clark refracting telescope, an antique telescope gallery and a state-of-the-art planetarium.
-
Those twinkles occur because of atmospheric turbulence on Earth that refracts starlight, creating the illusion of a shifting shape.
-
Part of that is because music history is typically refracted through a male, rock-privileging lens.
-
The first telescopes were refracting telescopes that used a series of lenses to bend a larger amount of light toward the eye.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'refract'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Origin and Etymology of refract
Latin refractus, past participle of refringere to break open, break up, from re- + frangere to break — more at break
REFRACT Defined for English Language Learners
refract
playDefinition of refract for English Language Learners
-
of an object or substance : to make (light) change direction when it goes through at an angle
REFRACT Defined for Kids
refract
playDefinition of refract for Students
refracted
;refracting
: to make (light) bend when it passes through at an angle Prisms refract light.
Medical Dictionary
refract
playMedical Definition of refract
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)
Learn More about refract
-
See words that rhyme with refract Spanish Central: Translation of refract Nglish: Translation of refract for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of refract for Arabic speakers
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up refract? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Writing? Check your grammar now!