Definitions for "Wave refraction"
The bending of water waves as they encounter different depths and bottom conditions, or of other waves as they pass from one medium to another of different properties.
The bending of waves as they approach a shore so that their crests make no more than a 5° angle with the shoreline.
The re-orientation of a wave so that it approaches a shoreline at a more perpendicular angle. This process is caused by the differential reduction of water depth as a linear wave approaches a curved shoreline. A reduction in water depth causes a wave to slow down causing the waves approaching a nonlinear shoreline to curve with the shore's shape.