How to Use reflexive in a Sentence

reflexive

adjective

• For many people, the reflexive response to this kind of demand is to say no.
• In “I hurt myself,” the verb “hurt” is reflexive.
• In the sentence “We forced ourselves to finish the assignment,” the word “ourselves” is a reflexive pronoun.
• The end of the Democrats’ reflexive support for Israel.
  — Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker, 21 May 2021
• The sound is reflexive, a signal that one’s having a bit of trouble.
  — Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Oct. 2023
• But Clarence Thomas has shown in his time on the Court that reflexive deference to them is unwise.
  — Adam J. MacLeod, National Review, 22 Oct. 2021
• Of course, some of this disapproval is a reflexive GOP reaction to just the name Biden.
  — Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, 18 Feb. 2022
• In 1996, genre king Wes Craven broke the mold of the slasher movie with his self-reflexive and metatextual Scream — and horror hasn't been the same since.
  — Sezin Koehler, EW.com, 16 Sep. 2022
• The buccal phase is the body’s reflexive response to the actual presence of food in the mouth (which aids in swallowing).
  — Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Sep. 2023
• But there’s a reflexive gatekeeper who lives in my head.
  — Soleil Ho, San Francisco Chronicle, 15 Mar. 2021
• So far, too few politicians on both the right and left are moving away from the reflexive tough-on-crime rhetoric that has proven to be so devastating in the past.
  — Time, 3 Nov. 2022
• Now that the time for reflexive action in responding to the disaster is over, take a step back and realign your brand to the basics.
  — Rohit Kumar, Forbes, 21 Apr. 2021
• This reflexive inhalation will fill the lowest part of your lungs without adding tension to the torso or the neck.
  — Carol Kinsey Goman, Forbes, 6 June 2022
• After all the shouting, the reflexive restrictionism of the Trump era has become the default—and Biden, at least, doesn’t want to go back.
  — Felipe De La Hoz, The New Republic, 1 Mar. 2023
• Can we be blamed for flinching or dropping into a reflexive crouch this year?
  — Michael Taylor, ExpressNews.com, 7 July 2020
• For most drivers, the reflexive response to a flat tire or dead battery is to call an automobile club like AAA.
  — Christopher Elliott, USA TODAY, 1 Oct. 2021
• Now, on one level, this kind of reflexive hype isn’t surprising.
  — BostonGlobe.com, 9 July 2021
• But despite her deep and almost reflexive love of going to the movies, Walls doesn’t plan on returning anytime soon.
  — Rebecca Rubin, chicagotribune.com, 24 Feb. 2021
• In the 2000s, reflexive anti-Dan sentiment even found its way into the work of actual Steely Dan fans.
  — Alex Pappademas, Los Angeles Times, 4 May 2023
• Montgomery County needs school board members who will push back on reflexive school closures not backed by the science.
  — Nicole Asbury, Washington Post, 6 July 2022
• Gal Gadot is game, but there’s a slightly downbeat earnestness about her that doesn’t mesh with the reflexive quippiness of the dialogue.
  — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 10 Aug. 2023
• The reflexive response is to hide mistakes or point fingers elsewhere.
  — Ron Carucci, Forbes, 4 June 2022
• The flowers feature reflexive petals that bend backward to form a turban shape and are painted in hues of yellow and orange, covered in small brown spots.
  — BostonGlobe.com, 29 May 2022
• But in order to do so, journalists focused on global health need to be mindful and reflexive.
  — Quartz, 7 Dec. 2022
• But dad’s reflexive action to grab his cell phone and run, leaving his family behind, causes some doubt about his true character in the minds of mom and the kids.
  — Ed Symkus, USA TODAY, 15 Feb. 2020
• And there has been a reflexive reaction among the president’s critics: The Villain must always be wrong!
  — Dan McLaughlin, National Review, 7 Apr. 2020
• To many Malaysians, the surprising thing about this episode was not the reflexive sexism of the bureaucracy, but the fact that the bureaucrats changed course in response to the indignation.
  — The Economist, 30 Apr. 2020
• Sexism was part of it, the sort of reflexive brush-off faced by many women breaking into more powerful roles in business and the military, in arts and academia.
  — USA Today, 9 Apr. 2021
• The industry’s reflexive defensiveness is a product of years of conflict with animal rights activists and a bitter us-vs-them dynamic that often stands in the way of honest and productive discussion about the field and its problems.
  — Erika Fry, Fortune, 27 Jan. 2024
• Today there is a reflexive tendency to think of literature, and also other forms of culture, as an extra, as an ornament, as icing on the cake, as something that is expendable and unnecessary.
  — Merve Emre, The New York Review of Books, 13 Feb. 2024

Last Updated: 5 Sep 2024