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How to use reflexive in a sentence

18 example sentences · adjective, noun

Reflexive means referring back to the subject, or having an object equal to the subject. Example: “The electric shock elicited an automatic and reflexive response from him.”

Examples of reflexive by meaning

adjectiveOf a relation R on a set S, such that xRx for all members x of S (that is, the relation holds between any element of...

  • "Equals" is a reflexive relation, as it holds for all possible x; "not less" is non-reflexive because it is true only for some x and y, "unequal" is irreflexive, as it never holds between x and itself.

adjectiveOf or resulting from a reflex.

  • The electric shock elicited an automatic and reflexive response from him.

adjectiveProducing immediate response, spontaneous.

  • a reflexive dislike

adjectiveProducing or provoking a reciprocal response.

  • Shoigu's thinly veiled nuclear threats against NATO are part of the Kremlin's broader reflexive control campaign to influence Western decision-making in Russia's favor and against Western states' own interests.2025 April 24, Christina Harward, Daria Novikov, Anna Harvey, Grace Mappes, George Barros, Nate Trotter, William Runkel, “Russian Offensive...

More sentences with reflexive

  • Reflexive statements like "this sentence is false" present interesting problems in the study of logic.From the entry reflexive statement
  • The verb 'ask' in 'ask yourself' is a reflexive verb.From the entry reflexive verb
  • In grammar, some verbs can be both reflexive and non-reflexive.From the entry non-reflexive
  • The morpheme in question is the reflexive prefix ('infix' in the traditional Bantu terminology).2023, Bostoen, de Schryver, Guérois & Pacchiarotti, editor, On reconstructing Proto-Bantu grammar, page 709. From the entry infix
  • Anti-White racist ideas are usually a reflexive reaction to virulent White racism.2019, Ibram X. Kendi, How to Be an Antiracist, Random House, →ISBN, page 146. From the entry anti-white
  • Smoking weakened the pharyngoglottal closure reflex, pharyngo-upper esophageal contractile reflex and reflexive pharyngeal swallow.2015 July 16, “Association between Chronic Laryngitis and Particulate Matter Based on the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination…. From the entry pharyngoglottal
  • The Saminess, for their grandparents, was not so much a reflexive matter as something naturalized and implicit.2011, Dieter K. Müller, Alain A. Grenier, Polar Tourism: A Tool for Regional Development, page 189. From the entry saminess
  • In their combination of sourceness and goalness into a single participant, experienced actions somewhat resemble reflexive predications.1989, Ray Harlow, Robin Hooper, Linguistic Society of New Zealand, VICAL 1: Oceanic languages : papers from the Fifth International…. From the entry sourceness
  • A relation is nonreflexive if it is not reflexive, i.e., if there is a point that is not R-related to itself.2001, Patrick Blackburn, Maarten de Rijke, Yde Venema, Modal Logic, Cambridge University Press, page 97. From the entry nonreflexivity
  • Historically reflexive verbs expressing neuter voice consists of three members - active voice - neuter voice - passive voice.1998, Latviešu valodas institūta žurnals (publisher), Linguistica lettica, Volumes 3-4, page 162. From the entry neuter voice
  • Like all ordinary ancestrals, remote successor is logically reflexive.1992, Diane Brentari, Gary N. Larson, Lynn A. MacLeod, The Joy of Grammar: A festschrift in honor of James D. McCawley, page 309. From the entry ancestral
  • Unlike the players from the other scenes, however, the Cleveland jazzers would also engage in reflexive thought even when there are no immediate problems.2004, Harris M. Berger, Giovanna Del Negro, Identity and everyday life, page 106. From the entry jazzer
  • CROGGLE (Grennell) Roughly meaning shocked into momentary physical or mental paralysis; a portmanteau-word, apparently, combining "crushed" and "goggled", and usually passive or reflexive in application.1959, Richard "Dick" Harris Eney, Fancyclopedia II, Croggle. From the entry croggle
  • Definition If E is a non-empty set then by an order on E we mean a binary relation on E that is reflexive, anti-symmetric, and transitive.2005, T. S. Blyth, Lattices and Ordered Algebraic Structures, Springer, page 1. From the entry binary relation

Meaning of reflexive

  1. adjective Referring back to the subject, or having an object equal to the subject.
  2. adjective Of a relation R on a set S, such that xRx for all members x of S (that is, the relation holds between any element of the set and itself).
  3. adjective Of or resulting from a reflex.

Full definition of reflexive

Questions about reflexive in a sentence

How do you use reflexive in a sentence?
Reflexive is used as an adjective and noun. For example: “The electric shock elicited an automatic and reflexive response from him.”
What is a short sentence with reflexive?
“a reflexive dislike”
What does reflexive mean?
Reflexive means referring back to the subject, or having an object equal to the subject.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: reflexive (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use reflexive in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/reflexive. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.