deflection

British, de·flex·ion

[dih-flek-shuhn]

noun

1. the act or state of deflecting or the state of being deflected. deflected.

2. amount of deviation.

3. the deviation of the indicator of an instrument from the position taken as zero.

4. Optics.,  deviation.

5. Military.,  the angle formed by the line of sight to the target and the line of sight to the point at which a gun is aimed so as to strike the target.

6. Electronics.,  (in a cathode-ray tube) the bending by a magnetic field of the beam of electrons leaving the electron gun.

deflection

/ dɪˈflɛkʃən /

noun

1. the act of deflecting or the state of being deflected

2. the amount of deviation

3. the change in direction of a light beam as it crosses a boundary between two media with different refractive indexes

4. a deviation of the indicator of a measuring instrument from its zero position

5. the movement of a structure or structural member when subjected to a load

Other Word Forms

• nondeflection noun
• deflective adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of deflection¹

1595–1605; < Late Latin dēflexiōn- (stem of dēflexiō ), equivalent to Latin dēflex ( us ) (past participle of dēflectere; deflect ) + -iōn- -ion

Example Sentences

I know it took a deflection but nice finish.

From BBC

Instead, Maxwell served up a bunch of lies and deflections that he mostly accepted at face value.

From Salon

Truth or deflection, it shines a light on the scale of the problems at Rangers.

From BBC

His deflections when caught in a lie or a scandal have long worked to move past the immediate crisis, but maybe, just maybe, not this time.

From Salon

What they got instead was inconclusive meeting that produced no agreement of any sort, followed by “an awkward press appearance” captured by the Washington Post with a textbook people-are-saying deflection:

From Salon

Related Words

• aberration 
• alteration 
• anomaly 
• breach 
• detour 
• discrepancy 
• disparity 
• divergence 
• diversion 
• fluctuation 
• inconsistency 
• irregularity 
• modification 
• variance 
• variation 

When To Use

What does deflection mean?

Deflection is the act of deflecting—redirecting something or causing it to move in a direction that’s different from the course it had been on.It can also refer to an instance of deflecting, as in Despite a deflection by the goalie, the ball still rolled into the goal. The verb deflect can also be used in a passive way meaning for something to have its course changed, and deflection can also refer to an instance of this.Deflection can also be used in a figurative way referring to the act or an instance of doing something to avoid questioning or scrutiny, as in When asked about the scandal, the senator offered only deflection, giving a vague answer and changing the subject. Deflection can also be used in more specific ways in scientific and technical contexts.Example: The meteor is headed straight for Earth—our only chance is to cause a deflection using the space laser!