SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
reactionary
adjective
Strongly opposing change and seeking a return to earlier social or political arrangements.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Seeking a return to the past
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topReactionary seeks to reverse change or restore earlier arrangements. Conservative and traditionalist can instead mean preserving current practices without seeking reversal.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See reactionary in use
The novel portrays a reactionary official who rejects every proposed reform.
A former chair offered a reactionary alternative: restore the earlier rule that reserved every leadership position for the society's founders.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license