REFLEX

I. noun Etymology: Latin ~us, past participle of reflectere to reflect Date: 1508 1. reflected heat, light, or color, a mirrored image, a copy exact in essential or peculiar features, 2. an automatic and often inborn response to a stimulus that involves a nerve impulse passing inward from a receptor to a nerve center and thence outward to an effector (as a muscle or gland) without reaching the level of consciousness, the process that culminates in a ~ and comprises reception, transmission, and reaction, the power of acting or responding with adequate speed, a way of thinking or behaving, a linguistic element (as a word or sound) or system (as writing) that is derived from a prior and especially an older element or system , II. adjective Etymology: Latin ~us Date: 1649 directed back on the mind or its operations ; introspective, ~ed , produced or carried out in reaction, resistance, or return, being between 180° and 360°, of, relating to, or produced by a ~ without intervention of consciousness, ~ly adverb