mirroring

1. 1
   noununcountable

   The reproduction of something as a reversed or inverted version of itself.

   Like the way your reflection in a still pond reverses left and right.

   The mirroring of the left and right sides gave the building a formal symmetry.

   In the design, a subtle mirroring of motifs ties the two panels together.

   Similarreflection, inversion, symmetry

   Note

   The noun can be counted. Critics speak of mirrorings in the plural for the echoes inside a work, where one image or figure answers another, reversed or repeated. Joseph Farrell and Michael C. J. Putnam's 2010 companion to Vergil's Aeneid pairs mirrorings with repetitions as the patterns of likeness and difference that bind a long text together. In that use it is a structural term, not a visual one.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle of mirror.

   The calm water was mirroring the bright city lights.

   By mirroring his opponent's strategy, the coach neutralized their advantage.

   Note

   The -ing form does double duty. In "the water was mirroring the lights" it is a verb in a progressive tense. In "by mirroring his opponent's strategy" it heads a phrase that works like a noun yet still takes a direct object, and that object sets it apart from the noun for a reflection, which needs "of". Online it also means copying a website wholesale.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   The behavior in which a person, knowingly or not, imitates another's gestures, speech patterns, or attitudes.

   Like two people deep in conversation who end up sitting in the same pose without noticing.

   Skilled negotiators use mirroring to build trust with the other side.

   The interviewer's unconscious mirroring of the candidate's posture put them both at ease.

   Similarmimicry, imitation, copying

   Note

   Rapport has a body language, and psychology gives it this name: a matched posture, an echoed phrase, a borrowed tone. Negotiators may use it on purpose to build trust, but it often happens unnoticed, and either way it tends to draw people closer. The feature being copied follows "of", as in "mirroring of someone's posture". Here the word is uncountable, unlike the critic's plural mirrorings.

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