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Reflect vs Mediate - What's the difference?

reflect | mediate | Synonyms |

In transitive terms the difference between reflect and mediate

is that reflect is to give evidence of someone's or something's character etc while mediate is to resolve differences, or to bring about a settlement, between conflicting parties.

In intransitive terms the difference between reflect and mediate

is that reflect is (think seriously) To think seriously; to ponder or consider while mediate is to intervene between conflicting parties in order to resolve differences or bring about a settlement.

As an adjective mediate is

acting through a mediating agency.

reflect

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • To bend back (light, etc.) from a surface.
    • A mirror reflects the light that shines on it.
  • To be bent back (light, etc.) from a surface.
    • The moonlight reflected from the surface of water.
  • To mirror, or show the image of something.
    • The shop window reflected his image as he walked past.
  • To be mirrored.
    • His image reflected from the shop window as he walked past.
  • To agree with; to closely follow.
    • Entries in English dictionaries aim to reflect common usage.
  • To give evidence of someone's or something's character etc.
    • The team's victory reflects the Captain's abilities.
    The teacher's ability reflects well on the school.
  • *
    • With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get
  • (senseid) To think seriously; to ponder or consider.
    • People do that sort of thing every day, without ever stopping to reflect on the consequences.
  • * 1985 , , Option Lock , page 229:
    • Not for the first time, he reflected that it was not so much the speeches that strained the nerves as the palaver that went with them.

    Synonyms

    * See also
    Derived terms
    * reflective * reflexion * unreflective * nonreflective * reflectorize

    mediate

    English

    Verb

    (mediat)
  • To resolve differences, or to bring about a settlement, between conflicting parties.
  • To intervene between conflicting parties in order to resolve differences or bring about a settlement.
  • To divide into two equal parts.
    • (Holder)
  • To act as an intermediary causal or communicative agent; convey

    • Related terms

    * mean * median * mediation * mediator * medium

    Adjective

  • Acting through a mediating agency.
  • * (Oliver Sacks)
    • Vygotsky saw the development of language and mental powers as neither learned, in the ordinary way, nor emerging epigenetically, but as being social and mediate in nature, as arising from the interaction of adult and child, and as internalizing the cultural instrument of language for the processes of thought.
  • Intermediate between extremes.
    • (Prior)
  • Gained or effected by a medium or condition.
    • (Francis Bacon)
  • * Sir W. Hamilton
    • An act of mediate knowledge is complex.

    Derived terms

    * mediately

    External links

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