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.

Verb

(lb) To be aware of the meaning of.

:

:

*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)

*:I understand not what you mean by this.

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author= Sam Leith

, volume=189, issue=1, page=37, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Where the profound meets the profane , passage=Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths.}}

To believe, based on information.

:

* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)

, title=(The China Governess) , chapter=Foreword citation , passage=‘I understand that the district was considered a sort of sanctuary,’ the Chief was saying. ‘An Alsatia like the ancient one behind the Strand, or the Saffron Hill before the First World War.

To impute meaning, character etc. that is not explicitly stated.

:

:In this sense, the word is usually used in the past participle:

::

*(John Locke) (1632-1705)

*:The most learned interpreters understood the words of sin, and not of Abel.

*

*:Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.

To stand under; to support.

:(Shakespeare)