Word.ws English Dictionary

refracting

refracting is the present participle and gerund of refract.

Meaning of refract

Verb

refract (third-person singular simple present refracts, present participle refracting, simple past and past participle refracted)

  1. (transitive) Of a medium, substance, object, etc.: to deflect the course of (light rays), esp. when they enter the medium, etc., at an oblique angle; to cause refraction of (light, other electromagnetic radiation, or sound or other wave phenomena).
  2. (figuratively, transitive) To mediate; to alter; to distort.
  3. (transitive) To cause (light) to change direction as a result of entering a different medium.
  4. (transitive) To measure, and often also to correct with lenses, the refractive error of (an eye) or the eyes of (a person).
    • A prism can refract light.

Noun

refracting (plural refractings)

  1. An act of refraction.
    • Imaginal forms are virtual but fully individual refractings of light, or individual souls conceived as immaterial but distinct 'imaginings' of God.2006, Peter Hallward, Out of this World: Deleuze and the Philosophy of Creation, page 85

Forms of refracting

pluralrefractings

Phrases with refracting

Questions about refracting

What does refracting mean?
Refracting means an act of refraction.
What is refracting the present participle and gerund of?
Refracting is the present participle and gerund of refract.
What part of speech is refracting?
Refracting is a noun.
What is the plural of refracting?
The plural of refracting is refractings.

Words near refracting in the dictionary

  1. refractedly
  2. refractedness
  3. refractile
  4. refractilities
  5. refractility
  6. refracting
  7. refracting telescope
  8. refracting telescopes
  9. refractings
  10. refraction
  11. refractional

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: refracting (page history and authors); refract (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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Cite this entry: “refracting.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/refracting. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.