refraction

1. 1.

   the change in direction of a propagating wave (light or sound) when passing from one medium to another

   Broaderphysical phenomenon

   Narrowerdouble refraction
2. 2.

   the amount by which a propagating wave is bent

   Synonymsdeflectiondeflexion

   Broaderbending

Other forms of refraction

plural

refractions·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about refraction

What does refraction mean?

refraction means "the change in direction of a propagating wave (light or sound) when passing from one medium to another". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in refraction?

refraction has 4 syllables: re-frac-ti-on. The stress falls on "ti".

What is another word for refraction?

Close synonyms include deflection, deflexion. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is refraction a common word?

refraction is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.