/di flek"sheuhn/ , n.
1. the act or state of deflecting or the state of being deflected.
2. amount of deviation.
3. the deviation of the indicator of an instrument from the position taken as zero.
4. Optics. deviation (def. 5a).
5. Mil. the angle formed by the line of sight to the target and the line of sight to the point at which a gun is aimed so as to strike the target.
6. Electronics. (in a cathode-ray tube) the bending by a magnetic field of the beam of electrons leaving the electron gun.
Also, Brit., deflexion .
[ 1595-1605; deflexion- (s. of deflexio ), equiv. to L deflex ( us ) (ptp. of deflectere; see DEFLECT) + -ion- -ION ]