diffract
/dɪˈfɹækt/
diffract verb: to cause diffraction.
Verb
diffract (third-person singular simple present diffracts, present participle diffracting, simple past and past participle diffracted)
- To cause diffraction
- Dave frowned as he tried to answer. "Well, I suppose the atmosphere is oxygen and nitrogen, mostly; then there's the ionosphere and the ozone layer. As I remember, the color of the sky is due to the scattering of light—light rays being diffracted in the air."1963, Lester del Rey, The Sky Is Falling
- To undergo diffraction
Forms of diffract
| third-person singular present | diffracts |
|---|---|
| present participle | diffracting |
| past participle | diffracted |
| past | diffracted |
Origin of diffract
From Latin diffractus (“past participle of diffringo (“to shatter, to break into pieces”)”).
Words formed from diffract
Questions about diffract
- What does diffract mean?
- Diffract means to cause diffraction.
- What part of speech is diffract?
- Diffract is a verb.
- How do you pronounce diffract?
- Diffract is pronounced /dɪˈfɹækt/.
- What is the past tense of diffract?
- The past tense of diffract is diffracted.
Words near diffract in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: diffract (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-diffract.wav.
Cite this entry: “diffract.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/diffract. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.