# reactionary
## English
### Etymology

From French réactionnaire. Used in the time of the French revolution to refer to a person opposing the revolution; as in favoring a reaction against the revolution.

### Pronunciation

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

### Adjective

reactionary (comparative more reactionary, superlative most reactionary)
* (politics) Opposing revolution (such as the French Revolution); favoring a return to a golden age of the past.
    Synonyms: antiprogressive, regressive
    Antonyms: progressive, nonreactionary
** 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:[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.
* (chemistry) Of, pertaining to, participating in, or inducing a chemical reaction.
** 2013, Brandon Smith, Are Individuals The Property Of The Collective?‎: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.
* 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

* neo-reactionary
* reactionaryism

#### Translations
### Noun

reactionary (plural reactionaries)
* (politics) One who opposes revolution, wanting to reverse it, favoring a return to a past golden age. Often used as a derogatory by revolutionaires.
** 1921, Valentine Chirol, India, Old and New‎: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]‎: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

* antiprogressive

#### Antonyms

* progressive

#### Derived terms

* neo-reactionary

#### Translations
### References

* ↑ 2024 July 14 (last accessed), “Archived copy”, in Oxford English Dictionary Online‎ (overall work in English), archived from the original on 30 June 2024:OED's earliest evidence for reactionary is from 1799, in Reply L. N. M. Carnot to Rep. Conspiracy 18th Fructidor (page 149).

### Further reading

* "reactionary" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 256.
* “reactionary”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
* “reactionary”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
* reactionary on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### Anagrams

* creationary