reflective.

1. Inclined to think carefully about experience, meaning, or consequences.

2. Sending incoming light back from a surface.

3. Serving as a sign or expression of something else.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• reflective pause
• reflective essay

On the page

A reflective pause changed the direction of her answer.

Usage notes

Primary category: psychology / human behavior. Forms: Comparative more reflective; superlative most reflective when comparison is meaningful. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: character, behavior. Commonness: moderately common.