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Glite Dictionary
🤔 To respond ⚗️ To change chemically
to react

to react

47 3.7
Change chemically when mixed with another substance
  • verb
  • /riˈækt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : reaccionar (con)
  • The linkage helps the immune system react and defend against the sugar-coated bacterium.
  • react with oxygen
  • react chemically
  • react to form

Examples

  • In that way, they study how the gene would react to a particular drug.

    Academic text (2008)

  • If you mix vinegar and baking soda, they will react to create carbon dioxide bubbles.

  • When this gets too hot, it can react with air and release hydrogen gas.

  • Don't let the two substances react with each other.

    Sexual Predator (2001)

  • And iodine can react with starch and this is blue.

  • When these two, these reactants react, they form hypoiodis acid.

  • That's how soft it is, and it reacts violently with water.

  • Nitrogen compounds also react with other air pollutants to form toxic ozone and particulate matter.

    Academic text (2012)

  • Critical brain cells were either overly sensitive or didn't react enough to neurotransmitters that modulate anger and aggression.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Ozone corrodes metals, cracks certain rubber compounds, and reacts with nitric acid to form nitrogen dioxide.

    Academic text (1993)

Antonyms

to stabilize
  • US
75 4.3

To become steady and stop changing

How Reactive

to react
  • Specialized
47 3.7
to activate
  • Specialized
7 5.5
to passivate
  • Specialized
8.7
to stabilize
  • US
197 3.7

Surface Forms

react infinitive
reacted past
reacted past participle
reacting present participle
reacts third person singular

Morphology

react = act (opaque) = re + act

Although the form is related to 'act', the specialized chemistry sense cannot be reliably inferred by a learner from 're-' plus 'act' alone.

Etymology

The scientific use of react uses the same parts re- 'again' and act 'do', so you can imagine two substances meeting and 'doing' something to each other. That's why when chemicals react they change or make new substances.