Meaning & use
refract
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Meaning
verbtransitive or intransitive
To change the direction of light or another wave when it passes from one substance into another.
Grammar: A prism refracts light; or light refracts as it enters water.
Patterns
- refract something
- refract through something
A glass prism refracts white light into colors.
Light refracts when it moves from air into water.
The lens refracted the beam toward a single point.
Word forms
| third person singular | refracts |
|---|---|
| past tense | refracted |
| past participle | refracted |
| -ing form | refracting |
Common combinations
- refract light
- Raindrops refract light to make a rainbow.
- refract through
- Sunlight refracts through the water droplets.
- refract at an angle
- The beam refracts at an angle when it enters the glass.
- refracted ray
- Measure the angle of the refracted ray.
- refract sound
- Temperature layers can refract sound across a lake.
Synonyms and how they differ
- bend
- Bend is the everyday word for changing direction, but refract is exact and refers only to waves moving between media.
- deflect
- Deflect means turning something aside, such as a ball, rather than bending a wave as it enters a new medium.
- diffract
- Diffract describes waves spreading around an edge or opening, a different effect from refraction.
- disperse
- Disperse can describe splitting light into colors, which refraction can cause.
Word family
- refraction noun
- the bending of a wave between media
- refractive adjective
- able to bend light
- refractor noun
- a telescope using lenses
- refractive index noun
- a measure of how much a material bends light
Commonly confused: refract or reflect?
refract vs reflect
Reflect means to bounce a wave back from a surface, while refract means to bend it as it passes into another material.
Practice
A straw looks bent in a glass of water because water ___ the light coming from it.
Choose one answer.
Refracts means bends the light as it passes from water into air, which makes the straw look broken. Reflects would mean bouncing the light back, a different effect.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “refract”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.