A normally white supertwist nematic liquid crystal display of reflective type is provided. This display comprises a reflector, a layer of chiral nematic liquid crystal having a front aligning surface facing a light source and a rear aligning surface facing the reflector, and a front polarizer. The nematic liquid crystal has an optical retardation (.DELTA.nd) of the layer and a distribution of directors, wherein the chiral nematic liquid crystal has a twist angle (.PHI.) between an alignment direction of the director at the front aligning surface and an alignment direction of the director at the rear aligning surface. The front polarizer is disposed between the layer of chiral nematic liquid crystal and the light source. The front polarizer has a transmission axis forming an angle (.alpha.) with the alignment direction of the director at the front aligning surface of the chiral nematic liquid crystal layer. The optical retardation (.DELTA.nd) and the angle (.alpha.) are defined by the following formulas: .alpha.((.PHI.)=sign(.PHI.)(47.0-0.4936|.PHI.|+2.6786.times.10.sup.-3.PHI- ..sup.2).+-.5, deg, and .DELTA.nd(.PHI.)=-11.674+0.1915|.PHI.|-9.8393.times.10.sup.-4.PHI..sup.21- .6667.times.10.sup.-6|.PHI.|.sup.3.+-.0.05, .mu.m.