as in conservative
tending to favor established ideas, conditions, or institutions
reactionary guardians of proper English usage invariably regard every new coinage that comes along as a nonword
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in rightist
a person whose political beliefs are centered on tradition and keeping things the way they are
reactionaries tried to stop the passage of the legislation extending civil rights
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in fogey
a person with old-fashioned ideas
a reactionary in the nation's ongoing culture war, she seems to believe that watching any TV at all will rot your brain
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of reactionary
Ian Millhiser, Vox, 21 Mar. 2025
With reactionary Splash Mountaineer–types decrying the film for being too woke, and folks on the left side-eyeing Gadot’s pro-Israel stance, this has felt like a film truly for no one.
—Bethy Squires, Vulture, 19 Mar. 2025
Empathy Without Discernment: The tendency to immediately rally behind someone who claims harm or makes an accusation without critically assessing the validity of the claim, leading to reactionary and sometimes unjust outcomes.
—Aparna Rae, Forbes, 19 Mar. 2025
Emotional decision-making disrupts this discipline and can initiate a cycle of reactionary behavior: selling during downturns, reentering during rallies, and repeating the process whenever volatility arises.
—True Tamplin, Forbes, 21 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for reactionary
Adjective
The fact that America’s traditional conservative party has been replaced by reactionary chaosmongers, in other words, does not simply create crises in the present.
—Ian Millhiser, Vox, 21 Mar. 2025
With reactionary Splash Mountaineer–types decrying the film for being too woke, and folks on the left side-eyeing Gadot’s pro-Israel stance, this has felt like a film truly for no one.
—Bethy Squires, Vulture, 19 Mar. 2025
Empathy Without Discernment: The tendency to immediately rally behind someone who claims harm or makes an accusation without critically assessing the validity of the claim, leading to reactionary and sometimes unjust outcomes.
—Aparna Rae, Forbes, 19 Mar. 2025
Emotional decision-making disrupts this discipline and can initiate a cycle of reactionary behavior: selling during downturns, reentering during rallies, and repeating the process whenever volatility arises.
—True Tamplin, Forbes, 21 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for reactionary
Recent Examples of Synonyms for reactionary
Adjective
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González, 47, held various government jobs during the presidency of Correa, who led Ecuador from 2007 through 2017 with free-spending socially conservative policies and grew increasingly authoritarian in his last years in office.—
Gonzalo Solano and Regina Garcia Cano,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Apr. 2025
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González, 47, held various government jobs during the presidency of Rafael Correa, who led Ecuador from 2007 through 2017 with free-spending socially conservative policies and grew increasingly authoritarian in his last years as president.—
Regina Garcia Cano,
Chicago Tribune,
14 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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There are also displays dedicated to how Cartier translated the traditional arts of China, Japan, Iran, Egypt and the Russian Empire, where the House of Fabergé was famed for its decoratively colorful designs.—
Hikmat Mohammed,
Footwear News,
10 Apr. 2025
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The idea came from my frustration with traditional methods used to teach hospitality management.—
Betsy Pudliner,
The Conversation,
10 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Air Force veteran Mark Mendon of Blue Springs, Missouri, showed up to lend his support to the Satanic Grotto’s cause.—
Matthew Kelly,
Kansas City Star,
28 Mar. 2025
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Citadel stars Game of Thrones veteran Richard Madden and Quantico’s Priyanka Chopra as elite spy agents who had their memories wiped years ago after encountering a shadowy syndicate known as Manticore.—
Dave Nemetz,
TVLine,
28 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Already captaining Northern Ireland’s national team despite his youth, Bradley is a much more orthodox full-back than Alexander-Arnold, highlighted by his touch map (since 2023-24) being more weighted to the touchline on that side of the pitch.—
Andy Jones,
New York Times,
9 Apr. 2025
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Economists are concerned that investor confidence is being dealt a blow that will undo the last roughly 21 months of work by Turkey’s finance leaders in returning to orthodox monetary policy and turning around the country’s runaway inflation problem.—
Natasha Turak,
CNBC,
24 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Reactionary.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/reactionary. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025.
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