reactionnoun
uk/riˈæk.ʃən/us/riˈæk.ʃən/reaction noun (BEHAVIOUR)
B2 [ C ] behaviour, a feeling or an action that is a direct result of something else:
someone's ability to act quickly when something happens:
[ C usually singular ] a type of behaviour or opinion that is produced or held with the intention of being different from something else:
More examples
- The protests are a delayed reaction to last week's announcement.
- The committee kept the results of the survey to itself, fearing a bad public reaction.
- There has been a mixed reaction to the changes.
- Young people's reactions to world events are often at variance with those of their parents.
- The proposal has received a generally favourable reaction.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Reacting and responding
- backlash
- bite
- bite back (at sb/sth)
- chain reaction
- counteract
- greet
- knob
- react
- reactive
- recoil
- reflexive
- reflexively
- respond
- response
- responsive
- rise
- sensitive
- strike
- wake (sb) up
- worm
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reaction noun (UNPLEASANT EFFECT)
B2 [ C ] an unpleasant effect resulting from eating particular things or taking particular drugs:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Poisoning and allergy
- allergy
- delirium tremens
- hypersensitivity
- hypoallergenic
- intolerance
- lactose intolerance
- lead poisoning
- listeriosis
- poison
- poisoner
- poisonous
- ricin
- salmonella
- strychnine
- the DTs
- toxic
- toxicity
- toxicology
- toxin
- trigger food
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reaction noun (IN SCIENCE)
[ C or U ] chemistry an occasion when two or more substances react with and change each other:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Physical & chemical processes
- addition reaction
- adiabatic
- adsorb
- advection
- alpha decay
- condensation
- degradable
- diffraction
- dissolve
- exothermic reaction
- impregnate
- processus
- redox
- refraction
- rehydrate
- saponification
- scald
- secretion
- suction
- vaporize
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reaction noun (NO CHANGE)
[ U ] disapproving the belief or principle that there should be no social or political change, and the attempt to stop such change from happening:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Custom, tradition & conformity
- apple pie
- as American as apple pie idiom 1
- backward-looking
- backwards
- be (like) sheep idiom
- blend into the scenery idiom
- cue
- fashion
- folk
- folk memory
- folklore
- follow the crowd idiom
- non-traditional
- nonconformist
- norm
- orthodoxy
- patrimony
- reactionary
- unorthodox
- zeitgeist
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