Word Study
reflexive
CIDE DICTIONARY
reflexive, a.
- Bending or turned backward; reflective; having respect to something past. [1913 Webster]"Assurance reflexive can not be a divine faith." [1913 Webster]
- Implying censure. South. [1913 Webster]
- Having for its direct object a pronoun which refers to the agent or subject as its antecedent; -- said of certain verbs; as, the witness perjured himself; I bethought myself. Applied also to pronouns of this class; reciprocal; reflective. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
reflexive, adj. & n. Gram.
--adj.
1 (of a word or form) referring back to the subject of a sentence (esp. of a pronoun, e.g. myself).
2 (of a verb) having a reflexive pronoun as its object (as in to wash oneself).
--n. a reflexive word or form, esp. a pronoun.
--adj.
1 (of a word or form) referring back to the subject of a sentence (esp. of a pronoun, e.g. myself).
2 (of a verb) having a reflexive pronoun as its object (as in to wash oneself).
--n. a reflexive word or form, esp. a pronoun.
Derivative
reflexively adv. reflexiveness n. reflexivity n.
THESAURUS
reflexive
active, active voice, antiphonal, automatic, blind, casual, compulsive, conditioned, forced, gut, ill-advised, ill-considered, ill-devised, impulsive, inadvertent, indeliberate, instinctive, involuntary, mechanical, medio-passive, middle, middle voice, passive, passive voice, reacting, reactionary, reactive, reflex, refluent, respondent, responding, responsive, retroactionary, retroactive, revulsive, snap, spontaneous, unadvised, uncalculated, unconscious, unconsidered, undeliberate, undeliberated, undesigned, unintended, unintentional, unmeditated, unpremeditated, unstudied, unthinking, unwilled, unwilling, unwitting, voiceFor further exploring for "reflexive" in Webster Dictionary Online