reactionary
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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 favoring a reaction against the revolution.
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)
- (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[2]:
- [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?[3]:
- 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
[edit]Translations
[edit]opposing revolution
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Noun
[edit]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[4]:
- 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][5]:
- 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]reactionary
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References
[edit]- ^ 2024 July 14 (last accessed), “Archived copy”, in Oxford English Dictionary Online[1], 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
[edit]- "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
[edit]Categories:
- English terms with quotations
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂eǵ-
- English terms borrowed from French
- English terms derived from French
- English 5-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
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