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
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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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of reactionary
Lewis Gordon, Vulture, 8 Jan. 2025
And the rise of reactionary populism—not just in North America and Europe but also in India and in parts of Latin America—has shattered the ideological dominance that liberalism enjoyed for two decades after the end of the Cold War.
—Alexander Cooley, Foreign Affairs, 7 Jan. 2025
One was a group of reactionary racists and the other was fanatical Marxists.
—Evan Thies, New York Daily News, 6 Jan. 2025
The Sun Devils were instead forced to punt and a reactionary firestorm began on social media.
—Danny Davis, Austin American-Statesman, 4 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for reactionary 
Adjective
Cutting a long story short, a vocal minority of reactionary gamers is perturbed that a sci-fi video game features a Black samurai protagonist, despite the game’s hokey premise centering on the genetic recording of memories written to computer software.
—Lewis Gordon, Vulture, 8 Jan. 2025
And the rise of reactionary populism—not just in North America and Europe but also in India and in parts of Latin America—has shattered the ideological dominance that liberalism enjoyed for two decades after the end of the Cold War.
—Alexander Cooley, Foreign Affairs, 7 Jan. 2025
One was a group of reactionary racists and the other was fanatical Marxists.
—Evan Thies, New York Daily News, 6 Jan. 2025
The Sun Devils were instead forced to punt and a reactionary firestorm began on social media.
—Danny Davis, Austin American-Statesman, 4 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for reactionary
Recent Examples of Synonyms for reactionary
Adjective
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In recent years, DEI has become a social and political lightning rod for lawmakers, corporate leaders and conservative activists who have sought to cast such initiatives as unfair and even racist, with some emboldened by the Supreme Court’s gutting of affirmative action.—
Nicquel Terry Ellis,
CNN,
22 Jan. 2025
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Since then, Republican President Donald Trump appointed three new conservative justices during his first term, shifting the court to the right.—
Ian Max Stevenson,
Idaho Statesman,
22 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Perhaps football reinforces traditional gender norms.—
Louisa Thomas,
The New Yorker,
19 Jan. 2025
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The star ingredients are the calendula petals, a beloved medicinal herb in Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine, celebrated for their calming, skin-soothing properties.—
Christa Joanna Lee,
Allure,
19 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Landing Vincent could give them another veteran for the playoffs and a capable ball-handler.—
Joel Thayer,
Newsweek,
26 Jan. 2025
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Appearing on the Graham Norton Show alongside fellow guest Olly Alexander — also a Eurovision veteran — the actor talked about his love of the annual song competition, which led to co-writing and co-starring in the Netflix film Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.—
Daniel Kreps,
Rolling Stone,
26 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Around the same historical period, Israel instituted a divided education system based on nationality and religious observance, with four distinct school streams: Jewish secular, orthodox and ultra-orthodox schools taught primarily in Hebrew, and Arab schools taught in Arabic.—
Ayala Hendin,
The Conversation,
16 Jan. 2025
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The Victorian Society of New York, which is often highly orthodox and disdainful about these kinds of changes, also came out in favor.—
Christopher Bonanos,
Curbed,
14 Jan. 2025
Thesaurus Entries Near reactionary
Cite this Entry
“Reactionary.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/reactionary. Accessed 2 Feb. 2025.
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