⏪ Opposing change 👴 A conservative person

reactionary

13 8.6

A person who wants society to go back to how it was and opposes change

noun
/riˈækʃənˌɛri/

: reaccionario

We need to fight these reactionaries without accepting the boundaries of their battlefield.

It's a sense that if Biden doesn't win, I've lost my country to these right wing reactionaries.

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Examples

The difference between a visionary and a reactionary is that a visionary can say why matters are unjust.

Academic text (1994)
But if it were true of all theory, then the fears and fury of the reactionaries would surely be justified.

Academic text (1995)
That was in an indication of how far the reactionary forces in the state had come.
You know, the world is full of reactionaries.

The In-Laws (1979)
In Ted Cruz, Texas elected one of the most extreme right-wing reactionaries to ever serve in the Senate.

Blog text (27)
The bourgeoisie, then, had its reactionaries who clung desperately to tradition and its progressives who were more receptive to innovation.

Academic text (1995)
Many believe that the rise of reactionaries threatens the progress we have made in civil rights.
He identified himself as a reactionary, preferring the political ideologies of the past over modern reforms.
In discussions about climate change, some individuals still align themselves with reactionaries who deny the need for any reform.

Synonyms

die-hard

vsreactionary

25 7.9

Very unwilling to accept change or new ideas

opposes reform with political intent to restore prior social or political states

counterrevolutionary

vsreactionary

1 9.1

A person who tries to undo a large change in government

is broader and opposes progress beyond cases of revolutions

ultraconservative

vsreactionary

1 8.5

A person who strongly supports traditional beliefs and opposes social change

opposes reform to restore a past state but may be less extreme

reactionist

vsreactionary

1 9.9

Opposed to social or political change and wanting to return to older ways

has the same political opposition meaning but serves as the entry term

status quo warrior

vsreactionary

8.1

A person who strongly supports how things are and resists change

seeks a return to earlier social arrangements rather than defending present ones

Antonyms

progressive

111 5.1

A person who supports social and political change to make society fairer

reformer

69 3.5

A person who works to make society or its institutions better

How Reactionary

reactionary

13 8.6

conservative

∞ 4.6

moderate

114 4.6

progressive

111 5.1

Surface Forms

reactionary singular

reactionaries plural

Morphology

reactionary = reaction (semi-transparent) = react + ion + ary

The formation by adding '-ary' to 'reaction' is regular, but the political meaning 'favoring a return to a previous state' is a specialized sense not fully predictable from 'reaction' alone.

Etymology

Reactionary comes from reaction, made of re- meaning 'back' and act meaning 'to do', as in react. A reactionary is someone who 'acts back' against change and wants to return to earlier ways. So, a reactionary opposes social or political progress.