mirror

Pluralmirrors

Formsmirrors, mirroring, mirrored

1. 1
   glass surfacenouncountable

   A smooth surface, usually glass with a reflective coating on the back, that reflects light to give an image of whatever is in front of it.

   The dancer checked her posture in the studio's full-length mirror.

   Telescopes use curved mirrors to gather and focus light from distant stars.

   UsageUse look in the mirror when talking about seeing your reflection.

   Similarglass

2. 2
   be just likeverbtransitive

   To be identical to, be a copy of, or closely imitate another event, activity, or behavior.

   Children often mirror the gestures and speech of the adults around them.

   The slump in sales mirrored the downturn of ten years earlier.

   Similarimitate, copy, mimic, echo, reflect

3. 3
   reflection ofnounfigurativelycountable

   Something, whether a thing, a person, or an event, that reflects or depicts something else.

   The novel holds up a mirror to the anxieties of its era.

   Voting patterns can be a mirror of a region's economic health.

   UsageCommon as a mirror of something and in hold up a mirror to something.

   Similarreflection, image, picture, barometer

   Note

   An older pattern treats a person as the perfect image of a quality. Edmund Spenser, in The Faerie Queene (1590), hails Queen Elizabeth I as "Mirror of grace and majesty divine." There, mirror of means something close to "model" or "exemplar." Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • Edmund Spenser wrote The Faerie Queene. gutenberg.org
   • The Faerie Queene was first published in 1590. gla.ac.uk
   • The poem contains “Mirror of grace and majesty divine.” gutenberg.org
   • Mirror in this passage means something like an exemplar. gutenberg.org
4. 4
   match reversedverbtransitive

   To reflect an image of something as a mirror does, or to match or reproduce it exactly as a mirror image, often reversed.

   In the photograph, the swan and its reflection mirror each other across the waterline.

   The east wing of the palace mirrors the west wing exactly.

   Similarreflect, match, duplicate, replicate

5. 5
   duplicate servernouncountable

   A server or website holding a duplicate copy of the data found on another site.

   When the primary server crashed, users switched to a European mirror.

   The open-source project lists a dozen mirrors on its download page.

   Note

   In computing, a mirror is a copy kept in step with its original, synchronized from time to time. Sites are mirrored to spread load, to give distant users faster access, and to keep content available if the primary source goes down. Mirrors can also outlast the original: a post deleted from a blog may still be found on some mirrors. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

   • A computing mirror is a duplicate copy. en.wikipedia.org
   • Mirrors are updated periodically to follow changes to their originals. debian.org
   • Mirroring spreads server load and can give geographically distant users faster access. debian.org
   • Mirrors help keep content available when the original site is unavailable. en.wikipedia.org
   • Mirrored content can survive deletion of the original blog pages. hetarchive.net
6. 6
   host a copyverbtransitive

   To create an identical copy of a website, server, or other data resource in another location.

   Universities around the world mirror the archive to keep downloads fast for local users.

   The developers mirrored the entire code repository before the original site shut down.

   Similarreplicate, copy, clone, duplicate

   Note

   The verb describes routine work for a server administrator. You mirror a site, a repository or a dataset, usually to a second location, and the result is the noun for such a copy. Unlike a one-off backup, a mirrored resource is normally kept synchronized with the original, so mirroring describes an ongoing arrangement rather than a single act of copying. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

   • Mirrored resources normally receive updates from the original as part of an ongoing arrangement. docs.github.com

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