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 veteran
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
Georgia Casey, Allure, 6 Feb. 2026
Vytas, now staying with his growingly reactionary parents, makes a more concerted effort to join the resistance movement, staging public performance-art protests, volunteering at a food bank, and attempting to cut off his folks’ access to Russian propaganda on satellite TV.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 1 Feb. 2026
James Duesterberg, New Yorker, 18 Feb. 2026
In middle age, some sports fans become reactionaries.
—Ross Andersen, The Atlantic, 25 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for reactionary
Adjective
But in most people, facial bloating and undereye puffiness are usually just reactionary.
—Georgia Casey, Allure, 6 Feb. 2026
Vytas, now staying with his growingly reactionary parents, makes a more concerted effort to join the resistance movement, staging public performance-art protests, volunteering at a food bank, and attempting to cut off his folks’ access to Russian propaganda on satellite TV.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 1 Feb. 2026
Noun
Like Curtis Yarvin and other neo-reactionaries, Land abhors democracy.
—James Duesterberg, New Yorker, 18 Feb. 2026
In middle age, some sports fans become reactionaries.
—Ross Andersen, The Atlantic, 25 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for reactionary
Recent Examples of Synonyms for reactionary
Adjective
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Republican voters demonstrated their willingness to embrace ultra-conservative candidates by bringing Attorney General Ken Paxton close to victory in the Senate primary despite his scandals and controversial history, suggesting the rightward trajectory of the GOP continues[1].—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
5 Mar. 2026
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The relatively modest fiscal stimulus also aligned with the more conservative growth target, Xu noted.—
Anniek Bao,
CNBC,
5 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Hawks general manager Kyle Davidson was again able to negotiate a higher-than-expected return for one of his veterans, the other being a 2028 second-round draft pick for defenseman Connor Murphy.—
Kalen Lumpkins,
Chicago Tribune,
5 Mar. 2026
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A day after landing veteran defenseman Tyler Myers, the Stars added some scoring depth in a deal with Nashville for Michael Bunting.—
SportsDay Staff,
Dallas Morning News,
5 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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The reason CrowdStrike shares are down 16% this year, alongside many other enterprise software companies, is that some investors believe that large language models (LLMs), with their rapidly improving capabilities, will one day displace even the best traditional cybersecurity vendors.—
Jeff Marks,
CNBC,
4 Mar. 2026
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That demonstration confirmed the drone could operate from naval platforms without traditional runways.—
Sujita Sinha,
Interesting Engineering,
4 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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For him, Yuan porcelain represented a major cultural and technological breakthrough in Chinese art under Mongol rule, countering long-running, orthodox perceptions of the imperial dynasty.—
Issy Ronald,
CNN Money,
28 Feb. 2026
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Bishops and priests often challenged texts that did not conform with what became orthodox doctrine.—
Christy Cobb,
The Conversation,
26 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Reactionary.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/reactionary. Accessed 9 Mar. 2026.
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