Wiktionary

reactionary

English edit

Etymology edit

From French réactionnaire.[1] Used in the time of the French revolution to refer to a person opposing the revolution; as in a person favoring a reaction to the revolution. First known usage in English in a translation of Lazare Carnot's letter on the Conspiracy of the 18th Fructidor published in London, 1799.

Pronunciation edit

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ɹiˈækʃən(ə)ɹi/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ɹiˈæk.ʃəˌnɛɚ.i/, /ɹiˈæk.t͡ʃəˌnɛɚ.i/, /ɹiˈæk.ʃɪˌnɛɚ.i/, /ɹiˈæk.t͡ʃɪˌnɛɚ.i/
  • Hyphenation: re‧ac‧tion‧ary

Adjective edit

reactionary (comparative more reactionary, superlative most reactionary)

  1. (politics) Favoring a return to an alleged golden age of the past; anti-progressive.
    Synonym: regressive
    Antonyms: nonreactionary, progressive
    • 2011 September 29, Corey Robin, The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, →OL, page 25:
      There's a fairly simple reason for the embrace of radicalism on the right, and it has to do with the reactionary imperative that lies at the core of conservative doctrine. […] If he is to preserve what he values, the conservative must declare war against the culture as it is.
    • 2019 August 7, Marissa Brostoff, Noah Kulwin, “The Right Kind of Continuity”, in Jewish Currents‎[1]:
      [Jeffrey] Epstein was interested in transhumanism, a theory of human perfection via technological manipulation that—like its predecessor, eugenics—is shot through with racist and reactionary ideas.
  2. (chemistry) Of, pertaining to, participating in, or inducing a chemical reaction.
    • 2013, Brandon Smith, Are Individuals The Property Of The Collective?‎[2]:
      Psychiatry extends the theory into biology in the belief that all human behavior is nothing more than a series of reactionary chemical processes in the brain that determine pre-coded genetic responses built up from the conditioning of one’s environment.
  3. In reaction to; as a result of.
    • 2020 December 16, “Network News: ORR praises Network Rail's response to pandemic”, in Rail, page 13:
      The regulator noted that reduced service levels and passenger numbers helped deliver strong performance, with fewer reactionary delays.

Derived terms edit

Translations edit

Noun edit

reactionary (plural reactionaries)

  1. (politics) One who is opposed to progress and change and wants to reverse it, wishing for a return to an alleged golden age of the past.
    • 1921, Valentine Chirol, India, Old and New‎[3]:
      Hindu reactionaries, whose conception of a well-ordered society had not moved beyond the laws of Manu, fell into line for the moment with the intellectual products of the modern Indian University.
    • 2017 April, Andrew Sullivan, “The Reactionary Temptation”, in New York [Magazine]‎[4]:
      It is not simply a conservative preference for things as they are, with a few nudges back, but a passionate loathing of the status quo and a desire to return to the past in one emotionally cathartic revolt. If conservatives are pessimistic, reactionaries are apocalyptic.

Synonyms edit

Antonyms edit

Derived terms edit

Translations edit

References edit

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “reactionary”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Further reading edit

Anagrams edit

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