reactionary

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] French réactionnaire. 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

• IPA^(key): /ɹiˈækʃən(ə)ɹi/
• IPA^(key): /ɹiˈækʃəˌnɛɹi/
• Hyphenation: re‧ac‧tion‧ary
• Rhymes: -æri

Adjective

reactionary (comparative more reactionary, superlative most reactionary)

1. Politically favoring a return to a supposed golden age of the past.
   • 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 and 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?

     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.

Antonyms

• nonreactionary

Translations

opposed to change

• Azerbaijani: mürtəce
• Catalan: reaccionari
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 反动派 (zh) (fǎndòngpài)

• Dutch: reactionair (nl)
• Finnish: taantumuksellinen (fi)
• French: réactionnaire (fr)
• German: reaktionär (de)
• Greek: αντιδραστικός (el) m (antidrastikós)
• Icelandic: afturhaldssamur m
• Italian: codino (it) m, codina (it) f
• Khmer: ប្រតិកិរិយា (prɑɑtekeriyiə)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Kurdish:
• 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 m
• Spanish: reaccionario

Noun

reactionary (plural reactionaries)

1. One who is opposed to change.
2. One who is very conservative.

Translations

such a person

• Azerbaijani: irticaçı
• Catalan: reaccionari
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 反动派 (zh) (fǎndòngpài)

• Esperanto: reakciulo
• Finnish: reaktionääri, taantumuksellinen (fi)
• French: réactionnaire (fr) m or f
• German: Reaktionär (de) m, Reaktionärin (de) f
• Greek: αντιδραστικός (el) m (antidrastikós)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Icelandic: afturhaldsseggur m
• Italian: codino (it) m, codina (it) f, reazionario (it)
• Norwegian: reaksjonær m
• Polish: reakcjonista (pl)
• Portuguese: reacionário (pt) m
• Russian: реакционе́р (ru) m (reakcionér), реакционе́рка (ru) f (reakcionérka)
• Sicilian: cudìnu m
• Spanish: reaccionario m

Further reading

• "reactionary" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 256.

Anagrams

• creationary