reactionary

1. 1

   Extremely conservative; opposing revolution (such as the French Revolution); favoring a return to a "golden age" of the past.

   • [Jeffrey] Epstein was interested in transhumanism, a theory of human perfection via technological manipulation that—like its predecessor, eugenics—is shot through with racist and reactionary ideas.
   • Within certain MAGA circles, to criticize someone for being too racist or reactionary is a betrayal, signaling an acceptance of the very liberal morality that the movement’s vanguard seeks to destroy.
2. 2

   Of, pertaining to, participating in, or inducing a chemical reaction.

   • 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
3. 3

   In reaction to; as a result of.

   • The regulator noted that reduced service levels and passenger numbers helped deliver strong performance, with fewer reactionary delays.

1. 1

   One who opposes revolution, wanting to reverse it, favoring a return to a past golden age, often used derogatorily by revolutionaires.

   • Hindu reactionaries, whose conception of a well-ordered society had not moved beyond the laws of Manu, fell into line for the moment with the intellectual products of the modern Indian University.
   • He was not a drunkard, not a chronic bankrupt. For the rest, Mr. Woodward depicts [Thomas] Paine as a highminded controversialist, persecuted by reactionaries on both sides of the Atlantic for no more than liberal political views.

ant. progressive