DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Re·flec·tion n.  [Written also reflexion.]
 1. The act of reflecting, or turning or sending back, or the state of being reflected. Specifically: (a) The return of rays, beams, sound, or the like, from a surface. See Angle of reflection, below.
 The eye sees not itself,
 But by reflection, by some other things.   --Shak.
 (b) The reverting of the mind to that which has already occupied it; continued consideration; meditation; contemplation; hence, also, that operation or power of the mind by which it is conscious of its own acts or states; the capacity for judging rationally, especially in view of a moral rule or standard.
    By reflection, . . . I would be understood to mean, that notice which the mind takes of its own operations, and the manner of them, by reason whereof there come to be ideas of these operations in the understanding.   --Locke.
    This delight grows and improves under thought and reflection.   --South.
 2. Shining; brightness, as of the sun. [Obs.]
 3. That which is produced by reflection. Specifically: (a) An image given back from a reflecting surface; a reflected counterpart.
 As the sun water we can bear,
 Yet not the sun, but his reflection, there.   --Dryden.
 (b) A part reflected, or turned back, at an angle; as, the reflection of a membrane. (c) Result of meditation; thought or opinion after attentive consideration or contemplation; especially, thoughts suggested by truth.
    Job's reflections on his once flourishing estate did at the same time afflict and encourage him.   --Atterbury.
 4. Censure; reproach cast.
 He died; and oh! may no reflection shed
 Its poisonous venom on the royal dead.   --Prior.
 5. Physiol. The transference of an excitement from one nerve fiber to another by means of the nerve cells, as in reflex action. See Reflex action, under Reflex.
 Angle of reflection, the angle which anything, as a ray of light, on leaving a reflecting surface, makes with the perpendicular to the surface.
 Angle of total reflection. Opt. Same as Critical angle, under Critical.
 Syn: -- Meditation; contemplation; rumination; cogitation; consideration; musing; thinking.
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 Crit·ic·al a.
 1. Qualified to criticise, or pass judgment upon, literary or artistic productions.
    It is submitted to the judgment of more critical ears to direct and determine what is graceful and what is not.   --Holder.
 2. Pertaining to criticism or the critic's art; of the nature of a criticism; accurate; as, critical knowledge; a critical dissertation.
 3. Inclined to make nice distinctions, or to exercise careful judgment and selection; exact; nicely judicious.
    Virgil was so critical in the rites of religion, that he would never have brought in such prayers as these, if they had not been agreeable to the Roman customs.   --Bp. Stillingfleet.
 4. Inclined to criticise or find fault; fastidious; captious; censorious; exacting.
 O gentle lady, do not put me to 't,
 For I am nothing, if not critical.   --Shak.
 5. Characterized by thoroughness and a reference to principles, as becomes a critic; as, a critical analysis of a subject.
 6.  Pertaining to, or indicating, a crisis, turning point, or specially important juncture; important as regards consequences; hence, of doubtful issue; attended with risk; dangerous; as, the critical stage of a fever; a critical situation.
    Our circumstances are indeed critical.   --Burke.
    The small moment, the exact point, the critical minute, on which every good work so much depends.   --South.
 Critical angle Optics, that angle of incidence of a luminous ray at which it is wholly reflected, and no portion of it transmitted. The sine of this angle is the reciprocal of the refractive index of the medium.
 Critical philosophy, the metaphysical system of Kant; -- so called from his most important work, the “Critique of Pure Reason.”
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 critical angle
      n : the smallest angle of incidence for which light is totally
          reflected