Definitions for reaction

• Definition
• Anagrams (532)

reaction re·ac·tion

Spelling: [ree-ak-shuh n]

IPA: /riˈæk ʃən/

Reaction is a 8 letter English word. It's valid Scrabble word worth 10 points. It's valid Words with friends word worth 12 points.

You can make 532 anagrams from letters in reaction (aceinort).

Definitions for reaction

noun

1. a reverse movement or tendency; an action in a reverse direction or manner.
2. movement in the direction of political conservatism or extreme rightism.
3. action in response to some influence, event, etc.:
4. Physiology. action in response to a stimulus, as of the system or of a nerve, muscle, etc.
5. Medicine/Medical. the action caused by the resistance to another action. a return to the opposite physical condition, as after shock, exhaustion, or chill.
6. Bacteriology, Immunology. the specific cellular response to foreign matter, as in testing for allergies.
7. Chemistry. the reciprocal action of chemical agents upon each other; chemical change.
8. Also called nuclear reaction. Physics. a process in which a nucleus that is bombarded by a photon, particle, or other nucleus, emits a nucleon, alpha particle, or the like, without a significant change in its atomic weight.
9. Mechanics. the instantaneous response of a system to an applied force, manifested as the exertion of a force equal in magnitude but opposite in direction to the applied force.
10. Commerce. a decline in the market after an advance in prices.

Origin of reaction

1635-45; re- + action, modeled on react

Examples for reaction

No one likes it when their sandcastle is knocked over, but his reaction is a bit, err, extreme.

I found him under the influence of that reaction which follows the effort of crime.

Then it was that the reaction in favour of Narcisse set in; the boulevards could not stand this.

Jundullah and Jaish ul Adl sprang up “in reaction to that kind of oppression,” he said.

I was sure only that they had been through an ordeal and were feeling the reaction.

Ultimately, reflecting other people's reaction was highly effective.

Her eyes were blazing with an anger the more fierce in that some of it was reaction.

For whatever reason, I grew up watching and loving horror movies—perhaps as a reaction to the environment I was growing up in.

The business world reflects the disturbance of war's reaction.

JUDNICK: My reaction is so visceral that I immediately, like you, isolate myself so I can breathe.