Serving or having power to refract, or turn from a direct course; pertaining to refraction; as, refractive surfaces; refractive powers. Refractive index. ... <medicine> The ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction for a ray passing out of one of the media into the other. ... Origin: Cf. F. Refractif. ... Found on http://www.encyclo.co.uk/local/20973
Re·fract'ive adjective [ Confer French réfractif . See Refract .] Serving or having power to refract, or turn from a direct course; pertaining to refraction; as, refractive surfaces; refractive powers. Refractive index . (Opt.) See Index of refract... Found on http://www.encyclo.co.uk/webster/R/37