Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definitions: Reactionary |
ReactionaryAdjective1. Extremely conservative. Noun1. An extreme conservative; an opponent of progress or liberalism. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "reactionary" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1859. (references) |
Synonyms: ReactionarySynonyms: far-right (adj), reactionist (adj), extreme right-winger (n), ultraconservative (n). (additional references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
In American history, many have argued that the Confederacy was inherently reactionary in its desire to prevent economic industrialization. Others see it as a conservative effort to adhere to original Constitutional norms. In either case, the American South has produced figures and movements that seem reactionary in retrospect. Among these are the literary and cultural critics known collectively as the Southern Agrarians along with their sympathizers. The most reactionary of these was perhaps Donald Davidson, who adhered to his agrarian beliefs long after many of the other members of the original group had ceased to embrace much of their original agenda.
After the publication of the so-called agrarian manifesto, I'll Take My Stand, in 1930, many of the contributors to that book published in the periodical The American Review. Published and edited by the fascist Seward Collins, The American Review served as a vehicle for further examination of agrarian and anti-modern proposals, including the distributism of G.K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc.
During the same period, other areas of America saw the rise of reactionary spokesmen. Father Charles Coughlin of Detroit won over a huge audience with his radio broadcasts, which were notable for their harsh criticism of the New Deal and their anti-Semitic charges against Jewish bankers.
The reactionary is considered to be the antithesis to the radical, though dramatically reversive change can itself be considered radical.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Reactionary."
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Counteraction | Adjective: counteracting; Verb: antagonistic, conflicting, retroactive, renitent, reactionary; contrary. |
Recoil | Adjective: recoiling; Verb: refluent, repercussive, recalcitrant, reactionary; retroactive. |
Regression | Adjective: receding; Verb: retrograde, retrogressive; regressive, refluent, reflex, recidivous, resilient; crab-like; balky; reactionary. |
Reversion | Adjective: reverting; Verb: regressive, revulsive, reactionary; retrorse. |
Tergiversation | Revocatory, reactionary. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Reactionary |
| English words defined with "reactionary": Blimp, Bourbon ♦ Colonel Blimp ♦ obstinate ♦ Reactionaries ♦ stubborn ♦ unregenerate. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | 'Course, there's one good thing about a reactionary President, he's not into health foods. (2010; writing credit: Arthur C. Clarke; Peter Hyams) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
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Books |
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Author | Date | Quotation |
Communist Manifesto | 1848 | In either case, it is both reactionary and Utopian. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | An even stronger reactionary voice originates from labor, a group that vehemently denounces foreign participation in the bidding process. (references) | |
Economic History | Georgia | Since surviving assassination attempts in August 1995 and February 1998 by reactionary forces opposed to reform, President Shevardnadze has consolidated his leadership and moved ahead with an ambitious and courageous reform agenda. (references) |
Georgia | Georgia's economic recovery has been hampered by the separatist disputes in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, a persistently weak economic infrastructure, resistance to reform on the part of some corrupt and reactionary factions, and the Russian and Asian economic crises. (references) | |
Political Economy | Australia | Neither of the major parties is likely to accept a reactionary right-wing party as a partner in a future government or to make a deal with One Nation for its preferences. (references) |
Worker Rights | China | The drive was launched to promote economic progress, strengthen the struggle against separatism, and stem "the Dalai clique's reactionary infiltration," according to official press reports. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Rush Limbaugh | Today, Bush knows the Saudi royal family-types are falling apart, which is why the House of Saud wants us out so they can make the changes without appearing reactionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Reactionary" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 97.85% of the time. "Reactionary" is used about 279 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 97.85% | 273 | 17,765 |
| Noun (singular) | 1.43% | 4 | 175,879 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.72% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 279 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "reactionary": nihilist-reactionary. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
reactionary | 9 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "reactionary"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | reaksionar (retrograde), që jep një reagim të kundërt, kundërshtues (averse, contentious, contradictory, controversial, deprecative, dissentient, objector, recusant, refractory). (various references) | |
Arabic | الرجعي (fogy), رجعي (atavistic, die hard, fusty, reactive, retroactive, retrograde). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | реакционер (hunker, obscurant, reactionist, rightist, right-winger), реакционен (right, right wing, white). (various references) | |
Chinese | 反动份子 (Reactionaries), 反動分子 , 反動 (reaction). (various references) | |
Czech | reakcionář (reactionist), reakèní, zpáteènický, zpáteèník (diehard). (various references) | |
Dutch | reactionair. (various references) | |
Esperanto | reakciulo, reakcia. (various references) | |
Farsi | مرتجع , واکشنی (Responsive), استبدادی (Absolute, Autocratic), ارتجاعی (Recessive, Resillient), ادم مرتجع . (various references) | |
Finnish | taantumuksellinen. (various references) | |
French | réactionnaire. (various references) | |
German | Reaktionär (bourbon, reactionist). (various references) | |
Greek | αντιδραστικόσ (reactive). (various references) | |
Hebrew | ריאקציו ר, לחם בק"מ". (various references) | |
Hungarian | reakciós (goer backward, obscurant, reactionist, reactive). (various references) | |
Icelandic | afturhaldsseggur, afturhaldssamur. (various references) | |
Italian | reazionario (reactionist). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 反動的 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | は"どうてき. (various references) | |
Korean | 복 자 (Reactionaries). (various references) | |
Manx | aawoalltaagh (reactive). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | eactionaryray.(various references) | |
Portuguese | reacionário (jet, reactionist). (various references) | |
Romanian | reacţionar (retrograde, retrogressive, rightist). (various references) | |
Russian | реакционный (retrograde, right-wing), реакционер (bourbon, rightist, right-winger, standpatter), дающий обратную реакцию. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | reakcionarski (ultraconservative), reakcionar (reactionist, white), nazadnjak (hunker, obscurant), nazadan (backward, hunker, regressive, retrogressive). (various references) | |
Spanish | reaccionario (die hard, reactionist). (various references) | |
Swedish | reaktionär (die hard, retrograde), bakåtsträvare (reactionist). (various references) | |
Thai | เกี่ยวกับพวกฝ่ายขวา, สมาชิกฝ่ายขวา. (various references) | |
Turkish | sağcı (conservative, rightist, rightwinger), gerici (obscurant, obscurantist, puritanical, retrograde, retrogressive, stick in the mud, unprogressive). (various references) | |
Turkmen | reaksion (r). (various references) | |
Ukranian | реакційний (conservative, reactionist, reactive, retrogressive, right wing), реакціонер (bourbon, conservative, pullback, reactionist, rightist, right-winger), протидіючий (antagonistic, antagonistical, counteractive). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | kẻ phản động (reactionist). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "reactionary": reactionaryism, reactionaryisms. (additional references) | |
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"Reactionary" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: practioner, reactinary. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "reactionary" (pronounced rēa"kshune'rē) |
| 7 | -k sh u n e' r ē | confectionary, confectionery, dictionary, functionary. |
| 6 | -sh u n e' r ē | cautionary, concessionary, counterrevolutionary, deflationary, discretionary, disinflationary, evolutionary, expansionary, expeditionary, inflationary, missionary, noninflationary, probationary, recessionary, revolutionary, stationary, stationery. |
| 5 | -u n e' r ē | bicentenary, cardiopulmonary, centenary, coronary, culinary, disciplinary, diversionary, exclusionary, extraordinary, illusionary, imaginary, interdisciplinary, luminary, mercenary, ordinary, preliminary, pulmonary, seminary, urinary, veterinary, visionary. |
| 4 | -n e' r ē | quaternary. |
| 3 | -e' r ē | actuary, adversary, ancillary, apothecary, arbitrary, aviary, beneficiary, Blackberry, blueberry, budgetary, capillary, Cassowary, cemetery, cometary, commentary, commissary, Constabulary, contemporary, corollary, cranberry, customary, depositary, Dewberry, dietary, dignitary, Dogberry, dromedary, dysentery, emissary, epistolary, estuary, fiduciary, formulary, fragmentary, funerary, gooseberry, hackberry, hereditary, honorary, Huckleberry, interplanetary, involuntary, itinerary, judiciary, lapidary, legendary, library, literary, military, momentary, monastery, monetary, mortuary, mulberry, necessary, nonmilitary, obituary, paramilitary, pecuniary, pituitary, planetary, primary, proprietary, raspberry, Rosemary, salutary, sanctuary, sanitary, savagery, secondary, secretary, sedentary, semilegendary, solitary, statuary, strawberry, subsidiary, temporary, Tilbury, topiary, tributary, undersecretary, unitary, unnecessary, unsanitary, vocabulary. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-c-e-i-n-o-r-r-t-y" | |
-2 letters: tarriance. | |
-3 letters: aeration, anoretic, anterior, carinate, carrotin, caryotin, catenary, cinerary, contrary, craniate, creation, enactory, raincoat, reaction, tricorne. | |
-4 letters: acarine, aconite, aerator, anticar, carinae, carotin, carrion, carroty, carryon, cateran, ceratin, certain, cirrate, cointer, cornier, creatin, creator, cyanate, cyanite, enactor, erotica, errancy, erratic, narrate, nectary, noticer, ocarina, reactor, rectory, retiary, retrain, tacrine, ternary, terrain, tracery, trainer, tricorn, trinary, tyronic. | |
-5 letters: acetin, acinar, action, aeonic, antiar, aortae, aortic, arcane, arnica, aroint, aroynt, arrant, artery, artier, atoner, atonic, cairny, canary, canter, cantor, carate, carina, carnet, carney, carnie, carrot, carter, carton, catena, cation, centai, centra, citron, coater, coiner, contra, cornea, corner, cornet, corrie, cortin, crania, crater, craton, crayon, cretin, enatic, erotic, errant, errata, irater, ironer, nectar, nicety, nitery, noetic, norite, notary, notice, octane, orcein, orient, ornate, ornery, orrice, racier, rancor, ranter, rarity, ratany, ratine, ration, recant, recoin, rector, retain, retina, retorn, rioter, rotary, taenia, tanrec, tonier, tracer, trance, trocar, yantra, yarner. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-c-e-i-n-o-r-r-t-y" | |
+1 letter: accretionary. | |
+2 letters: precautionary. | |
+3 letters: corynebacteria, reactionaryism. | |
+4 letters: corynebacterial, reactionaryisms. | |
+5 letters: antirecessionary, intramolecularly. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)52 65 61 63 74 69 6F 6E 61 72 79 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).-. . .- -.-. - .. --- -. .- .-. -.--. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010010 01100101 01100001 01100011 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 01100001 01110010 01111001 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)R e a c t i o n a r y |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0052 0065 0061 0063 0074 0069 006F 006E 0061 0072 0079 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)5271676986758180678491 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Quotations: Historic 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Quotations: Spoken 10. Usage Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Orthography 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
