Word.ws English Dictionary

reflectively

reflectively adverb: in a reflective manner; meditatively.

Adverb

reflectively (comparative more reflectively, superlative most reflectively)

  1. In a reflective manner; meditatively.
    • "I should say yes," agreed George. "And talk about speed!" he added. "Wow! One ball he threw soaked me in the ear. I can feel it yet!" and he rubbed the side of his head reflectively.1912, Stratemeyer Syndicate, chapter 1, in Baseball Joe on the School Nine
    • "Spuds - Jim - Jimmy?" he ran his fingers reflectively through his hair, and frowned. "Bowles," he added triumphantly.1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1932, page 6
  2. By means of reflection.
    • In JIT compilation, the running program is reflectively modified by an embedded compiler, which only uses two reflective operations […]2024, Egon Börger, Vincenzo Gervasi, Structures of Computing: A Guide to Practice-Oriented Theory, page 108

Forms of reflectively

comparativemore reflectively
superlativemost reflectively

Origin of reflectively

From reflective + -ly.

Questions about reflectively

What does reflectively mean?
Reflectively means in a reflective manner; meditatively.
What part of speech is reflectively?
Reflectively is an adverb.

Words near reflectively in the dictionary

  1. reflectionlessly
  2. reflectionlessness
  3. reflections
  4. reflective
  5. reflective programming
  6. reflectively
  7. reflectiveness
  8. reflectivenesses
  9. reflectives
  10. reflectivism
  11. reflectivist

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: reflectively (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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