REACTION
reaction
(noun) doing something in opposition to another way of doing it that you don’t like; “his style of painting was a reaction against cubism”
reaction, response
(noun) a bodily process occurring due to the effect of some antecedent stimulus or agent; “a bad reaction to the medicine”; “his responses have slowed with age”
reaction
(noun) an idea evoked by some experience; “his reaction to the news was to start planning what to do”
reaction
(noun) extreme conservatism in political or social matters; “the forces of reaction carried the election”
reaction
(noun) a response that reveals a person’s feelings or attitude; “he was pleased by the audience’s reaction to his performance”; “John feared his mother’s reaction when she saw the broken lamp”
reaction
(noun) (mechanics) the equal and opposite force that is produced when any force is applied to a body; “every action has an equal and opposite reaction”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
reaction (plural reactions)
An action or statement in response to a stimulus or other event.
(chemistry) A transformation in which one or more substances is converted into another by combination or decomposition.
(politics) Reactionary politics; a period in which reactionary thought or politics is resurgent or dominant.
Synonyms
• reax (journalism jargon)
• rxn (abbreviation)
Anagrams
• actioner, actorine, anticore, creation
Source: Wiktionary
Re*ac"tion, n. Etym: [Cf. F. réaction.]
1. Any action in resisting other action or force; counter tendency;
movement in a contrary direction; reverse action.
2. (Chem.)
Definition: The mutual or reciprocal action of chemical agents upon each
other, or the action upon such chemical agents of some form of
energy, as heat, light, or electricity, resulting in a chemical
change in one or more of these agents, with the production of new
compounds or the manifestation of distinctive characters. See
Blowpipe reaction, Flame reaction, under Blowpipe, and Flame.
3. (Med.)
Definition: An action included by vital resistance to some other action;
depression or exhaustion of vital force consequent on overexertion or
overstimulation; heightened activity and overaction succeeding
depression or shock.
4. (Mech.)
Definition: The force which a body subjected to the action of a force from
another body exerts upon the latter body in the opposite direction.
Reaction is always equal and opposite to action, that is to say, the
actions of two bodies upon each other are always equal and in
opposite directions. Sir I. Newton (3d Law of Motion).
5. (Politics)
Definition: Backward tendency or movement after revolution, reform, or
great progress in any direction.
The new king had, at the very moment at which his fame and fortune
reached the highest point, predicted the coming reaction. Macaulay.
Reaction time (Physiol.), in nerve physiology, the interval between
the application of a stimulus to an end organ of sense and the
reaction or resulting movement; -- called also physiological time.
– Reaction wheel (Mech.), a water wheel driven by the reaction of
water, usually one in which the water, entering it centrally, escapes
at its periphery in a direction opposed to that of its motion by
orifices at right angles, or inclined, to its radii.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition