refract
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Latin refrāctum, neuter form of refrāctus, the past participle of refringō, itself from re- (“again”) + frangō (“I break”).
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -ækt
Verb
[edit]refract (third-person singular simple present refracts, present participle refracting, simple past and past participle refracted)
- (transitive, physics) 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).
- (transitive, figurative) To mediate; to alter; to distort.
- (transitive, optics) To cause (light) to change direction as a result of entering a different medium.
- (transitive, ophthalmology) To measure, and often also to correct with lenses, the refractive error of (an eye) or the eyes of (a person).
- A prism can refract light.
Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]to refract — see disperse
to change direction
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to cause to change direction
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
See also
[edit]Anagrams
[edit]Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰreg-
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ækt
- Rhymes:English/ækt/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- en:Physics
- en:Optics
- en:Ophthalmology
- English terms with usage examples
- en:Light