Meaning & use
self-reflection
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Meanings
noununcountable
Careful, honest thought about your own actions, feelings and beliefs in order to understand yourself and improve.
Grammar: Uncountable: time for self-reflection, not a self-reflection.
Patterns
- time for self-reflection
- engage in self-reflection
A quiet walk gave her time for self-reflection.
Journaling is a good tool for self-reflection.
After the argument, he spent the evening in self-reflection.
nouncountable
A written or spoken piece in which someone evaluates their own performance or learning, often required at school or work.
Grammar: Countable in this use: write a self-reflection.
Patterns
- write a self-reflection on something
Students submitted a short self-reflection with their projects.
Her manager asked for a self-reflection before the review.
The teacher graded each self-reflection for honesty.
Word forms
| plural | self-reflections |
|---|
Common combinations
- engage in self-reflection
- Teachers encourage students to engage in self-reflection.
- time for self-reflection
- The retreat offers time for self-reflection.
- honest self-reflection
- Growth begins with honest self-reflection.
- moment of self-reflection
- He paused for a moment of self-reflection.
- practice self-reflection
- She practices self-reflection each morning.
Synonyms and how they differ
- introspection
- Introspection means looking inward at your thoughts and feelings, while self-reflection also suggests learning and improving.
- self-examination
- Self-examination can sound stricter and sometimes critical, whereas self-reflection is gentler.
- soul-searching
- Soul-searching suggests anxious thought about a hard decision, while self-reflection is calmer and ongoing.
- self-analysis
- Self-analysis is more clinical and methodical in tone.
Opposites
Word family
- reflect verb
- to think carefully about something
- reflective adjective
- thoughtful, or showing careful thought
- reflection noun
- careful thought, or an image in a mirror
- self-aware adjective
- conscious of your own character
Commonly confused: self-reflection or self-reflexive?
self-reflection vs self-reflexive
Self-reflexive describes works or statements that refer to themselves, rather than a person thinking about themselves.
Practice
After a bad presentation, Lena wrote about what went wrong and how she could improve. She was engaged in ___.
Choose one answer.
Thinking carefully about her own performance is self-reflection. Self-control means restraining impulses, which does not fit.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “self-reflection”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.