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Reactionary vs Action - What's the difference?

reactionary | action |

As nouns the difference between reactionary and action

is that reactionary is one who is opposed to change while action is something done so as to accomplish a purpose.

As an adjective reactionary

is opposed to change; urging a return to a previous state.

As an interjection action is

demanding or signifying the start of something, usually an act or scene of a theatric performance.

As a verb action is

(management) to act on a request etc, in order to put it into effect.

reactionary

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Opposed to change; urging a return to a previous state.
  • Very conservative.
  • * {{quote-book
    • , date = 2011-09-29 , title = The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin , author = Corey Robin , location = New York , publisher = Oxford University Press , isbn = 9780199793747 , ol = 25101368M , page = 25 , pageurl = http://books.google.com/books?id=CWxIz_Gm9WMC&pg=PA25&dq=reactionary , passage = There's a fairly simple reason for the embrace of radicalism on the right, and it has to do with the reactionary imperative that lies at the core of conservative doctrine. If he is to preserve what he values, the conservative must declare war against the culture as it is. }}
  • (chemistry) Of, pertaining to, participating in or inducing a chemical reaction.
  • * 2013 , Brandon Smith, Are Individuals The Property Of The Collective?
    • Psychiatry extends the theory into biology in the belief that all human behavior is nothing more than a series of reactionary chemical processes in the brain that determine pre-coded genetic responses built up from the conditioning of one’s environment.

    Antonyms

    * nonreactionary

    Noun

    (wikipedia reactionary) (reactionaries)
  • One who is opposed to change.
  • One who is very conservative.

    • action

    English

    (wikipedia action)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Something done so as to accomplish a purpose.
  • A way of motion or functioning.
    • Knead bread with a rocking action .
  • A fast-paced activity.
    • an action movie
  • A mechanism; a moving part or assembly.
    • a rifle action
  • (music): The mechanism, that is the set of moving mechanical parts, of a keyboard instrument, like a piano, which transfers the motion of the key to the sound-making device.Marshall Cavendish Corporation Growing Up with Science p.1079
  • (slang) sexual intercourse.
    • She gave him some action .
  • The distance separating the strings and the fretboard on the guitar.
  • (military) Combat.
    • He saw some action in the Korean War.
  • (legal) A charge or other process in a law court (also called lawsuit and actio ).
  • (mathematics) A mapping from a pairing of mathematical objects to one of them, respecting their individual structures. The pairing is typically a Cartesian product or a tensor product. The object that is not part of the output is said to act'' on the other object. In any given context, ''action'' is used as an abbreviation for a more fully named notion, like group action or ''left group action.
  • The event or connected series of events, either real or imaginary, forming the subject of a play, poem, or other composition; the unfolding of the drama of events.
  • (art, painting and sculpture) The attitude or position of the several parts of the body as expressive of the sentiment or passion depicted.
  • (bowling) spin put on the bowling ball.
  • (business, obsolete, a Gallicism) A share in the capital stock of a joint-stock company, or in the public funds.
  • * Burke
    • The Euripus of funds and actions .

    Derived terms

    * actioner * action hero * action item * action man * action movie * action star * actions speak louder than words * direct action * ! * lost in action * missing in action * piece of the action * social action * take action

    Related terms

    * act * agent * agency

    See also

    * deed *

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
  • Demanding or signifying the start of something, usually an act or scene of a theatric performance.
    • The director yelled ‘Action !’ before the camera started rolling.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (management) To act on a request etc, in order to put it into effect.
  • * {{quote-book, year=2004
    • , publisher=Pearson Education , author=Ros Jay, Richard Templar , title=Fast Thinking Manager's Manual , edition=Second edition , chapter=Fast thinking: project , section=Fast Thinking Leader citation , isbn=9780273681052 , page=276 , passage=‘Here, give me the minutes of Monday’s meeting. I’ll action your points for you while you get on and sort out the open day.’}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=2005
    • , publisher=Routledge , author=Fritz Liebreich , title=Britain's Navel and Political Reaction to the Illegal Immigration of Jews to Palestine, 1945-1948 , chapter=The physical confrontation: interception and diversion policies in theory and practice citation , isbn=9780714656373 , page=196 , passage=Violent reactions from the Jewish authorities were expected and difficulties of actioning the new guidelines were foreseen.}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=2007
    • , publisher=The Stationery Office , editor= , author=Great Britain: Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman , title=Tax Credits: Getting it wrong? 5th report session 2006-2007 , chapter=Case study: 11257 , section=Chapter 2: Changes and developments since June 2005 citation , isbn=9780102951172 , page=26 , passage=HMRC said that one reason they had not actioned her appeal was because she had said in her appeal form ‘I am appealing against the overpayment for childcare for 2003-04, 2004-05’, thus implying she was disputing her ‘overpayment’.}}
  • (transitive, chiefly, archaic) To initiate a legal action against someone.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1856
    • , publisher=Stringer & Townsend , author=Thomas Chandler Haliburton , title=The Attaché: or Sam Slick in England , section=Chapter XLVII: The Horse Stealer; or All Trades Have Tricks But Our Own , edition=New Revised Edition citation , page=270 , passage=‘I have no business to settle with you—arrest me, Sir, at your peril and I’ll action you in law for false imprisonment.’}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1844
    • , year_published= , publisher=T. C. Newby , author=Robert Mackenzie Daniel , title=The Grave Digger: A novel by the author of The Scottish Heiress , volume=I , section=Chapter IX: How the Grave-differ entertained a lady citation , pages=189-190 , passage=“Scrip threatened me at first with an action for slander—he spoke of actions to the wrong man though—action! no, no no. I should have actioned him—ha! ha! [...]”}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1871
    • , year_published=2002 , publisher=Oxford University Press US , author=Michael Shermer , quotee=(Alfred Russell Wallace) , title=In Darwin’s shadow: The Life and Science of Alfred Russell Wallace , section=Chapter 10. Heretic Personality citation , isbn=9780195148305 , page=261 , passage=I have actioned him for Libel, but he won’t plead, and says he will make himself bankrupt & won’t pay a penny.}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1996
    • , publisher=Boydell & Brewer , author=Darryl Mark Ogier , title=Reformation and Society in Guernsey , chapter=Discipline: Enforcement , section=Part Two: The Calvinist Regime citation , isbn=9780851156033 , page=148 , passage=In 1589 the Court went so far as to effect a reconciliation between Michel le Petevin and his wife after she actioned him for ill treatment and adultery with their chambermaid.}}

    Usage notes

    * The verb sense (term) is rejected by some usage authorities., page 3

    References

    * OED 2nd edition 1989 * Notes:

    External links

    * *

    Anagrams

    * English words suffixed with -tion ----