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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

refract.

Of a medium, substance, object, etc.: to deflect the course of (light rays), esp. when they enter the medium, etc., at an oblique angle; to cause refraction of (light, other electromagnetic radiation, or sound or other wave phenomena).

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb
  1. Of a medium, substance, object, etc.: to deflect the course of (light rays), esp. when they enter the medium, etc., at an oblique angle; to cause refraction of (light, other electromagnetic radiation, or sound or other wave phenomena).

    transitive
  2. To mediate; to alter; to distort.

    figuratively · transitive
  3. To cause (light) to change direction as a result of entering a different medium.

    transitive
  4. To measure, and often also to correct with lenses, the refractive error of (an eye) or the eyes of (a person).

    transitive
    A prism can refract light.
Where this word comes from

From Latin refrāctum, neuter form of refrāctus, the past participle of refringō, itself from re- (“again”) + frangō (“to break”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.