reactionary

adjective

re·​ac·​tion·​ary rē-ˈak-shə-ˌner-ē 

: relating to, marked by, or favoring reaction

especially : ultraconservative in politics

reactionary noun

reactionaryism

rē-ˈak-shə-ˌner-ē-ˌi-zəm 

noun

Synonyms of reactionary

• conservative
• traditional
• orthodox

Examples of reactionary in a Sentence

reactionary guardians of proper English usage invariably regard every new coinage that comes along as a nonword

Recent Examples on the Web

More reactionary than conservative, their political ancestry is in the underground of the American right—Strom Thurmond, Joseph McCarthy, Patrick Buchanan—rather than the forward-looking Reaganite libertarians who dominated the Republican Party for four decades. —George Packer, The Atlantic, 24 Nov. 2025

The gaydar of a founding mother and a Jesuit moralist will always be far more attuned than the intuition of a mob of reactionary haters. —Literary Hub, 4 Nov. 2025

That could be way too reactionary and dramatic, but the vultures and sharks in this league are headed there with this situation. —Zach Harper, New York Times, 3 Nov. 2025

That is the reactionary dream for any city, the city as the suburbs—whose pastoral image, by the way, is its own illusion. —Lauren Michele Jackson, New Yorker, 1 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1815, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for reactionary

• accretionary
• apothecary
• bicentenary
• certiorari
• concessionary
• concretionary
• confectionary
• confectionery
• constabulary
• contemporary
• deflationary
• depositary

Kids Definition

reactionary

1 of 2 adjective

re·​ac·​tion·​ary

rē-ˈak-shə-ˌner-ē

: of, relating to, or favoring old-fashioned political or social ideas

reactionary

2 of 2 noun

plural reactionaries

: a reactionary person