different between spontaneous vs reflexive

English

Etymology

Late Latin spont?neus, from Latin sponte (su?) (“of one's free will, voluntarily”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sp?n?te?.ni.?s/
• (US) IPA^(key): /sp?n?te?.ni.?s/
• Rhymes: -e?ni?s

Adjective

spontaneous (comparative more spontaneous, superlative most spontaneous)

1. Self-generated; happening without any apparent external cause.

   He made a spontaneous offer of help.

2. Done by one's own free choice, or without planning.
3. Proceeding from natural feeling or native tendency without external or conscious constraint
4. Arising from a momentary impulse
5. Controlled and directed internally; self-active; spontaneous movement characteristic of living things
6. Produced without being planted or without human cultivation or labor.
   • 1751, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, vol. IV, ch. 106:

     [H]e persisted in his design; and, because he would not make his wants known, actually subsisted for several days on hips, haws and sloes, and other spontaneous fruits which he gathered in the woods and fields.

7. Random.
8. Sudden, without warning.

Synonyms

• (self-generated): autonomous
• (done by one's own free choice): autonomous
• (proceeding from natural feeling...): autonomous
• (sudden, without warning): abrupt, precipitous, subitaneous; see also Thesaurus:sudden

Derived terms

• spontaneity
• spontaneously

Related terms

• spontaneous combustion

Translations

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin reflex?vus, from Latin reflexus.

Pronunciation

• enPR: r?fl?k's?v, IPA^(key): /???fl?ks?v/

Adjective

reflexive (not comparable)

1. (grammar) Referring back to the subject, or having an object equal to the subject.
2. (set theory) Of a relation R on a set S, such that xRx for all members x of S (that is, the relation holds between any element of the set and itself).

3. Of or resulting from a reflex.

4. (figuratively) Producing immediate response, spontaneous.

5. Synonym of reflective

Antonyms

• irreflexive, non-reflexive, nonreflexive

Derived terms

• reflexive verb
• reflexive pronoun
• reflexivity

Related terms

• (set theory): symmetric
• (set theory): transitive
• irreflexive

Translations

Noun

reflexive (plural reflexives)

1. (grammar) A reflexive pronoun.
2. (grammar) A reflexive verb.

Translations

See also

• (verb): active, passive, neuter, transitive, intransitive

Further reading

• reflexive on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Reflexive pronoun on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Reflexive verb on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

German

Pronunciation

Adjective

reflexive

1. inflection of reflexiv:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Latin

Etymology 1

Adverb

reflex?v? (not comparable)

1. reflexively

Etymology 2

Adjective

reflex?ve

1. vocative masculine singular of reflex?vus