reflexive: meaning, definition, pronunciation and examples

'Reflexive' means referring back to the subject/agent itself. 'Reflective' means characterised by deep thought, or capable of reflecting light/images. A person can be reflective (thoughtful), and a surface can be reflective (shiny), but only a grammatical structure or a self-referential system is reflexive.

Not in a strict grammatical sense. Verbs like 'self-destruct' or 'self-regulate' describe actions on the subject, but they do not typically take a reflexive pronoun (*'The device self-destructed itself' is wrong). Grammatical reflexivity requires a reflexive pronoun object that matches the subject.

In everyday language, it's uncommon. In academic sociology or psychology, a 'reflexive individual' might describe someone highly aware of and able to analyse their own social conditioning and biases.

A pronoun that ends in '-self' (singular) or '-selves' (plural) and refers back to the subject of the clause (e.g., myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves). Example: 'I prepared myself for the interview.'

Referring back to the subject of the clause.

Reflexive is usually academic / technical in register.

Reflexive: in British English it is pronounced /rɪˈflɛksɪv/, and in American English it is pronounced /rəˈflɛksɪv/. Tap the audio buttons above to hear it.