Reflect vs Return - What's the difference?
reflect | return |
To bend back (light, etc.) from a surface.
To be bent back (light, etc.) from a surface.
To mirror, or show the image of something.
To be mirrored.
To agree with; to closely follow.
To give evidence of someone's or something's character etc.
*
(senseid) To think seriously; to ponder or consider.
* 1985 , , Option Lock , page 229:
To come or go back (to a place or person).
:
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4
, passage=The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on an afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. The three returned wondering and charmed with Mrs. Cooke; they were sure she had had no hand in the furnishing of that atrocious house.}}
*{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=19 To go back in thought, narration, or argument.
:
(obsolete) To turn back, retreat.
*, Bk.V:
*:‘I suppose here is none woll be glad to returne – and as for me,’ seyde Sir Cador, ‘I had lever dye this day that onys to turne my bak.’
(obsolete) To turn (something) round.
*, Bk.X, Ch.xiij:
*:Whan Kyng Marke harde hym sey that worde, he returned his horse and abode by hym.
To put (place) something back where it had been.
:
To give something back to its original holder or owner.
:
To take something back to a retailer for a refund.
:
To give in requital or recompense; to requite.
*Bible, 1 Kings ii.44
*:The Lord shall return thy wickedness upon thine own head.
(tennis) To bat the ball back over the net in response to a serve.
:
(card games) To play a card as a result of another player's lead.
:
(cricket) To throw a ball back to the wicket-keeper (or a fielder at that position) from somewhere in the field.
To say in reply; to respond.
:to return''' an answer; to '''return thanks
*1897 , (Henry James), (What Maisie Knew)
*:‘Ah my good friend, I do look out!’ the young man returned while Maisie helped herself afresh to bread and butter.
(computing) To relinquish control to the calling procedure.
(computing) To pass (data) back to the calling procedure.
:
(dated) To retort; to throw back.
:to return the lie
*Dryden
*:If you are a malicious reader, you return upon me, that I affect to be thought more impartial than I am.
To report, or bring back and make known.
:to return the result of an election
*Bible, Exodus xix.8
*:And all the people answered together,and Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord.
(by extension, UK) To elect according to the official report of the election officers.
The act of returning.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2
, passage=I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town. I was completely mystified at such an unusual proceeding.}}
A return ticket.
An item that is returned, e.g. due to a defect, or the act of returning it.
An answer.
An account, or formal report, of an action performed, of a duty discharged, of facts or statistics, etc.; especially, in the plural, a set of tabulated statistics prepared for general information.
Gain or loss from an investment.
* Jeremy Taylor
* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=April 22, author=Sam Sheringham, work=BBC Sport
, title= * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-06, volume=408, issue=8843, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= (taxation, finance): A report of income submitted to a government for purposes of specifying exact tax payment amounts. A tax return.
(computing) A carriage return character.
(computing) The act of relinquishing control to the calling procedure.
(computing) A return value: the data passed back from a called procedure.
A short perpendicular extension of a desk, usually slightly lower.
(American football) Catching a ball after a punt and running it back towards the opposing team.
(cricket) A throw from a fielder to the wicket-keeper or to another fielder at the wicket.
The continuation in a different direction, most often at a right angle, of a building, face of a building, or any member, such as a moulding; applied to the shorter in contradistinction to the longer.
As verbs the difference between reflect and return
is that reflect is to bend back (light, etc) from a surface while return is to come or go back (to a place or person).As a noun return is
the act of returning.reflect
English
Verb
(en verb)- A mirror reflects the light that shines on it.
- The moonlight reflected from the surface of water.
- The shop window reflected his image as he walked past.
- His image reflected from the shop window as he walked past.
- Entries in English dictionaries aim to reflect common usage.
- 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
- People do that sort of thing every day, without ever stopping to reflect on the consequences.
- 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 alsoDerived terms
* reflective * reflexion * unreflective * nonreflective * reflectorizereturn
English
Verb
(en verb)citation, passage=As soon as Julia returned with a constable, Timothy, who was on the point of exhaustion, prepared to give over to him gratefully. The newcomer turned out to be a powerful youngster, fully trained and eager to help, and he stripped off his tunic at once.}}
Derived terms
(Terms derived from the verb "return") * return to formNoun
(en noun)- a return to one's question
- election returns'''; a '''return of the amount of goods produced or sold
- The fruit from many days of recreation is very little; but from these few hours we spend in prayer, the return is great.
Liverpool 0-1 West Brom, passage=Liverpool have now won only five of their 17 home league games this season. It is a poor return for a team of Liverpool's pedigree and resources but, once again, Kenny Dalglish's team were the instigators of their own downfall as chance after chance went begging.}}
The rise of smart beta, passage=Investors face a quandary. Cash offers a return' of virtually zero in many developed countries; government-bond yields may have risen in recent weeks but they are still unattractive. Equities have suffered two big bear markets since 2000 and are wobbling again. It is hardly surprising that pension funds, insurers and endowments are searching for new sources of ' return .}}
- A facade of sixty feet east and west has a return of twenty feet north and south.