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
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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
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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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Examples Sentences
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Recent Examples of reactionary
Matthew Jacobs, Vulture, 6 Dec. 2024
Weezy: Also, our show now is going to now include reactionary clips.
—Okla Jones, Essence, 4 Dec. 2024
Yet their dangerously unquestioned need to counter or even beat China in region after region across the globe is not only reactionary but also subordinates U.S. interests to a fight that drains resources and goodwill while foreclosing opportunities for cooperation and peaceful coexistence.
—Nancy Okail, Foreign Affairs, 3 Dec. 2024
Texas tried to establish a kind of reservation on the upper Brazos River, where the Tonkawa were first sent, but American settlers, abetted by reactionary newspapers, pressed for their removal.
—Michael Barnes, Austin American-Statesman, 26 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for reactionary 
Adjective
Adams is the ideal vessel for that discovery: The character is more clueless about reality than her elders, and yet her idealism is rooted in a humanism that Streep’s reactionary matron lacks.
—Matthew Jacobs, Vulture, 6 Dec. 2024
Weezy: Also, our show now is going to now include reactionary clips.
—Okla Jones, Essence, 4 Dec. 2024
Yet their dangerously unquestioned need to counter or even beat China in region after region across the globe is not only reactionary but also subordinates U.S. interests to a fight that drains resources and goodwill while foreclosing opportunities for cooperation and peaceful coexistence.
—Nancy Okail, Foreign Affairs, 3 Dec. 2024
Texas tried to establish a kind of reservation on the upper Brazos River, where the Tonkawa were first sent, but American settlers, abetted by reactionary newspapers, pressed for their removal.
—Michael Barnes, Austin American-Statesman, 26 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for reactionary
Recent Examples of Synonyms for reactionary
Adjective
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Panama’s conservative president José Raúl Mulino, who was elected in April on a pro-business platform, roundly rejected that notion as an affront to his country’s sovereignty.Bill Barrow and Will Weissert, Los Angeles Times, 23 Dec. 2024
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Gaetz has been a favorite among conservative voters as well as a close ally of President-elect Donald Trump, who nominated him to lead the Justice Department as attorney general.Josh Hammer, Newsweek, 23 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Valorie Wilmore: Gallatin High School Valorie Wilmore is a very imaginative artist who works with digital art and traditional media, school officials said, as a student at Gallatin High School, part of the Sumner County School District in Gallatin.Katie Nixon, The Tennessean, 20 Dec. 2024
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Evasive techniques: The use of PDF-based phishing bypasses traditional URL scanning and exploits user trust in business documents.Davey Winder, Forbes, 20 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Lansing was also a military veteran, serving from Oct. 1981 to April 1992 with the U.S. Army, his LinkedIn page shows.Laura A. Bischoff, The Enquirer, 27 Dec. 2024
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Tulane signed transfer portal veteran T.J. Finley, and Thompson is back on the market.Antonio Morales, The Athletic, 27 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Funnels and Pinch Points Funnels and pinch-points are among the most orthodox stand locations during the rut.Josh Honeycutt, Outdoor Life, 14 Nov. 2024
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Harris emphasized distributional conflict at a time when few orthodox economists were doing so.John Cassidy, The New Yorker, 2 Nov. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near reactionary
Cite this Entry
“Reactionary.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/reactionary. Accessed 5 Jan. 2025.
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