Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Characterized by reaction, especially opposition to progress or liberalism; extremely conservative.
  • noun An opponent of progress or liberalism; an extreme conservative.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of or pertaining to reaction in general; consisting of or characterized by reflex or reciprocal action; reactive.
  • Specifically Of or pertaining to political reaction; favoring reaction: as, reactionary principles or movements.
  • noun A promoter of reaction; specifically, one who attempts to check, undo, or reverse political action.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who favors reaction, or seeks to undo political progress or revolution.
  • adjective Being, causing, or favoring reaction.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Opposed to change; urging a return to a previous state.
  • adjective Very conservative.
  • noun One who is opposed to change.
  • noun One who is very conservative.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective extremely conservative
  • noun an extreme conservative; an opponent of progress or liberalism

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From 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.

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