reactionary

C2+ Topic:People & Society

Also spelled re-actionary

US /riˈækʃəˌnɛri/ UK /riˈækʃənəri/ See IPA manual

adj noun

Meanings

1

adj
opposing political or social progress, favoring a return to former ways

The reactionary faction sought to repeal every recent reform.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · opposing political or... conservativeultraconservativeregressiverightisttraditionalistblimpish

Opposites

progressive radicalreformistrevolutionary

Word family

Derived forms reactionaryism

Related forms react reactionreactive

Etymology

From French reactionnaire, from reaction, from Latin re- ('back, again') + actio ('a doing'), from agere ('to do, drive').

reactionnaire French agere Latin

View etymology graph ->

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People & Society Word Formation & Derivatives

# reactionary

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj, noun
**IPA (US):** riˈækʃəˌnɛri
**IPA (UK):** riˈækʃənəri

## Meanings
1. opposing political or social progress, favoring a return to former ways

## Examples
- The reactionary faction sought to repeal every recent reform.

## Synonyms
- conservative
- ultraconservative
- regressive
- rightist
- traditionalist
- blimpish

## Antonyms
- progressive
- radical
- reformist
- revolutionary

## Derived Forms
- reactionaryism

## Related Forms
- react
- reaction
- reactive

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: reactionnaire
- Root: agere

## Etymology
From French reactionnaire, from reaction, from Latin re- ('back, again') + actio ('a doing'), from agere ('to do, drive').

## AI Etymology
Reactionary comes from French reactionnaire, from reaction, from Latin re- ('back, again') + actio ('a doing'), from agere ('to do, drive'). The historical chain includes French reactionnaire and Latin agere. Older glosses in the chain include "back, again", "a doing", and "to do, drive", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, reactionary is best read as compound and borrowing, yielding an English adjective and noun shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as a adjective and noun, with the sense "opposing political or social progress, favoring a return to former ways". English derivatives include reactionaryism; related forms include react, reaction, and reactive. The result is an English adjective and noun whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.

## Topics
- People & Society
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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reactionary

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