reflecting

Pluralreflectings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of reflect.

   The calm lake was reflecting the city lights at night.

   Reflecting on the past year, she felt grateful for every change.

   Note

   One -ing spelling does triple duty here: it serves the progressive verb, a countable noun with its own plural (reflectings), and adjectives that take more and most. As a verb it can take an object (a lake reflecting the lights) or stand alone (light reflecting from a surface). Its range runs from bending light back to mirroring an image, and on to showing character: results reflecting the effort behind them.

2. 2
   adjective

   Sending back light, sound, or heat that strikes a surface.

   The telescope uses a large reflecting mirror to gather faint light.

   Safety vests have reflecting strips that bounce headlights back at drivers.

   Similarreflective

3. 3
   adjective

   Having been thrown back from a surface; said of light, sound, or similar waves undergoing reflection.

   The reflecting beam returned to the detector after striking the mirror.

   Engineers measured the reflecting waves as they traveled back from the barrier.

   Note

   Here the -ing form runs backward: the beam is not doing the reflecting but has already been reflected. A phrase like reflecting waves can therefore be read two ways, because the active "that reflects" meaning points the other direction. Where clarity matters, reflected is the safer adjective for whatever has bounced back.

4. 4
   adjective

   Inclined toward introspection; given to quiet, careful thought.

   A reflecting mind weighs each idea carefully before accepting it.

   Her reflecting nature drew her to long walks alone in the hills.

   Similarreflective, thoughtful, contemplative, introspective, pensive

   Oppositethoughtless, impulsive

5. 5
   adjective

   Containing a part, such as a mirror, that reflects light.

   Newton built the first practical reflecting telescope using a curved mirror.

   The reflecting projector bounces the image off an internal mirror onto the screen.

   Note

   A sorting adjective rather than a describing one: a reflecting telescope is a type of instrument, built around a mirror. The adjective names how the device is made, not how shiny it looks. Unlike the plain "that reflects" meaning, it does not grade. You can call a surface more reflecting, but no telescope is more reflecting than another of its kind.

6. 6
   nouncountable or uncountable

   A single instance of reflection, whether of light, sound, or thought.

   The reflecting of sound in the empty hall created a long, rolling echo.

   A brief reflecting on his words changed her mind entirely.

   Similarreflection

   Note

   The plural is where this noun comes into its own. Mervyn Peake's Titus Groan (1946) has "the illusory reflectings of the moon" playing across a shifting hall of threads. Reflections would name the images themselves. Reflectings keeps the action in view: glints still happening rather than pictures held still, which suits a scene where distances surge and crumble.

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