reflector

• reflecter

From reflect + -or.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈflɛktə(ɹ)/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛktə(ɹ)

reflector (plural reflectors)

1. Something which reflects heat, light or sound, especially something having a reflecting surface.
   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps, […] , and the light of the reflector fell full upon her.

2. A reflecting telescope.
3. A small, often red, reflecting disk on the rear of a vehicle or bicycle that reflects the headlights of other vehicles.
4. A safety reflector.
5. One who reflects on something; one who thinks or considers at length.
   • 1993, Robert W. Terry, Authentic Leadership: Courage in Action, page 48:

     Most reflectors on leadership are comfortable thinking of "ethical" and "unethical" as modifiers of leadership.

   • 2017, Joke van Velzen, Metacognitive Knowledge, page 154:

     Nonreflectors simply thought through that which they already knew, reflectors evaluated experiences by interpreting these experiences, and critical reflectors re-evaluated their presuppositions to correct distortions in reasoning and attitudes.

6. Something that is reflective (indicative) of something else.
   • 1982 August 28, Rob Kaplan, “Gaps in the Glass”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 7, page 8:

     The biography is an enormously powerful reflector of mainstream values: it is a statement that this person is someone, or did something, worth writing about. Similarly, because the biographer has access to myriads of details about her or his subject, what gets full exposure and what gets swept under the carpet can be more indicative of the biographer's values (and the society that instilled them) than of the actual subject's life.

7. (cellular automata) A pattern which can change the direction and/or offset of an oncoming spaceship without being destroyed.

• (telescope): refractor

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [rə.fləkˈto]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [re.flekˈtoɾ]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

reflector (feminine reflectora, masculine plural reflectors, feminine plural reflectores)

1. reflective

   Synonym: reflectant

reflector m (plural reflectors)

1. (physics, automotive) reflector

• “reflector” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “reflector”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

• Audio:

  (file)

reflector m (plural reflectors or reflectoren, diminutive reflectortje n)

1. reflector (reflecting disk on the rear of a vehicle; chiefly a bicycle)

reflector

1. first-person singular present passive indicative of reflectō

• Hyphenation: re‧flec‧tor

reflector m (plural reflectores)

1. pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1990 in Portugal) of refletor; still used where the agreement hasn’t come into effect and may occur as a sporadic misspelling

reflector (feminine reflectora, masculine plural reflectores, feminine plural reflectoras)

1. pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1990 in Portugal) of refletor; still used where the agreement hasn’t come into effect and may occur as a sporadic misspelling

• “reflector”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from French réflecteur.

reflector n (plural reflectoare)

1. reflector

• IPA^(key): /refleɡˈtoɾ/ [re.fleɣ̞ˈt̪oɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: re‧flec‧tor

reflector (feminine reflectora, masculine plural reflectores, feminine plural reflectoras)

1. reflecting

reflector m (plural reflectores)

1. spotlight

   Synonym: foco

   • 2015 July 7, “Violencia contra periodistas en México: de norte a sur”, in El País‎^[1]:

     Hace cinco años los reflectores de la violencia contra periodistas estaban en otro lado, en los estados del norte.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. reflector

• “reflector”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025