reactionary

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French réactionnaire, equivalent to reaction +‎ -ary. 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^(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

reactionary (comparative more reactionary, superlative most reactionary)

1. (politics) Extremely conservative; 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^[2], archived from the original on 14 January 2025:

     [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.

   • 2025 November 4, Michelle Goldberg, “Nick Fuentes Is Becoming Charlie Kirk’s Successor”, in The New York Times‎^[3], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 4 November 2025:

     Within certain MAGA circles, to criticize someone for being too racist or reactionary is a betrayal, signaling an acceptance of the very liberal morality that the movement’s vanguard seeks to destroy.

2. (chemistry) Of, pertaining to, participating in, or inducing a chemical reaction.
   • 2013 April 11, Brandon Smith, “Are Individuals The Property Of The Collective?”, in Alt-Market‎^[4], archived from the original on 5 March 2016:

     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

• neo-reactionary
• reactionarily
• reactionariness
• reactionarize
• reactionaryism

Translations

opposing revolution

• Albanian: reaksionar (sq) m, reaksionare f
• Arabic: رجعي (rajʕiyy)
• Azerbaijani: mürtəce
• Bulgarian: реакционен (bg) (reakcionen)
• Catalan: reaccionari
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 反動的 / 反动的 (fǎndòng de)

• Dutch: reactionair (nl)
• Finnish: taantumuksellinen (fi)
• French: réactionnaire (fr)
• Georgian: რეაქციული (reakciuli)
• German: reaktionär (de)
• Greek: αντιδραστικός (el) (antidrastikós), αντιπροοδευτικός (el) (antiproodeftikós)
• Hungarian: reakciós (hu)
• Icelandic: afturhaldssamur
• Italian: codino (it)
• Japanese: 反動的 (ja) (はんどうてき, handōteki)
• Khmer: ប្រតិកិរិយា (prɑɑtekeriyiə)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: paşverû (ku)

• Lao: ປະຕິການ (pa ti kān), ປະຕິກິລິຍາ (pa ti ki li nyā)
• Norwegian: reaksjonær
• Pashto: ارتجاعي (ps)
• Persian: ارتجاعی (fa)
• Polish: reakcyjny (pl), reakcjonistyczny
• Portuguese: reacionário (pt)
• Russian: реакцио́нный (ru) (reakciónnyj)
• Samoan: i suiga
• Sicilian: cudìnu
• Spanish: reaccionario (es), involucionista
• Swedish: reaktionär (sv)
• Turkish: gerici (tr)
• Ukrainian: реакці́йний (reakcíjnyj)
• Vietnamese: phản động (vi)

Noun

reactionary (plural reactionaries)

1. (politics) One who opposes revolution, wanting to reverse it, favoring a return to a past golden age, often used derogatorily by revolutionaires.
   • 1921, Valentine Chirol, India, Old and New‎^[5]:

     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.

   • 1945 September, Charles W. Morton, “Tom Paine: America's God Father”, in The Atlantic‎^[6], →ISSN, archived from the original on 28 May 2022:

     He was not a drunkard, not a chronic bankrupt. For the rest, Mr. Woodward depicts [Thomas] Paine as a highminded controversialist, persecuted by reactionaries on both sides of the Atlantic for no more than liberal political views.

   • 2017 April, Andrew Sullivan, “The Reactionary Temptation”, in New York Magazine‎^[7], archived from the original on 15 April 2020:

     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

reactionary

• Azerbaijani: irticaçı
• Bulgarian: реакционер (bg) m (reakcioner)
• Catalan: reaccionari
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 反動派 / 反动派 (zh) (fǎndòngpài)

• Esperanto: reakciulo
• Finnish: reaktionääri, taantumuksellinen (fi)
• French: réactionnaire (fr) m or f
• Georgian: რეაქციონერი (reakcioneri)
• German: Reaktionär (de) m, Reaktionärin (de) f
• Greek: αντιδραστικός (el) m (antidrastikós)
• Haitian Creole: reaksiónè
• Icelandic: afturhaldsseggur m
• Italian: codino (it) m, codina (it) f, reazionario (it)
• Japanese: 反動家 (はんどうか, handōka)
• Kazakh: кертартпа (kertartpa)
• Norwegian: reaksjonær m
• Polish: reakcjonista (pl)
• Portuguese: reacionário (pt) m
• Russian: реакционе́р (ru) m (reakcionér), реакционе́рка (ru) f (reakcionérka)
• Sicilian: cudìnu m
• Spanish: reaccionario (es) m
• Swedish: reaktionär (sv) c, bakåtsträvare (sv) c
• Turkish: gerici (tr), mürteci (tr)
• Vietnamese: người phản động

Further reading

• Raymond Williams (1983), “Reactionary”, in Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society, revised American edition, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, published 1985, →ISBN, page 256.
• “reactionary”, in Merriam-Webster.com 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