reaction

1 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"

2 a bodily process occurring due to the effect of some foregoing stimulus or agent; "a bad reaction to the medicine"; "his responses have slowed with age" [syn: response]

3 (chemistry) a process in which one or more substances are changed into others; "there was a chemical reaction of the lime with the ground water" [syn: chemical reaction]

4 an idea evoked by some experience; "his reaction to the news was to start planning what to do"

5 doing something in opposition to another way of doing it that you don't like; "his style of painting was a reaction against cubism"

6 extreme conservatism in political or social matters; "the forces of reaction carried the election"

7 (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"

English

Etymology

From re-, again, + action, from Latin actio, noun of action form from perfect passive participle actus, done, from verb agere, do.

Pronunciation

• SAMPA: /ri'

wikt reaction

A reaction is usually any response caused by some other event:

• Adverse drug reaction
• Chemical reaction
• Light reaction
• Nuclear reaction
• Reaction (physics), as defined by Newton's third law
• Reflex reaction
• Reactionary, a political tendency

The word Reaction may also refer to:

• Reaction Records, a record label
• ReAction GUI a GUI toolkit used on AmigaOS

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