Reaction
[rɪ'ækʃ(ə)n] or [rɪ'ækʃən]
Definition
(noun.) doing something in opposition to another way of doing it that you don't like; 'his style of painting was a reaction against cubism'.
(noun.) a bodily process occurring due to the effect of some antecedent stimulus or agent; 'a bad reaction to the medicine'; 'his responses have slowed with age'.
(noun.) an idea evoked by some experience; 'his reaction to the news was to start planning what to do'.
(noun.) extreme conservatism in political or social matters; 'the forces of reaction carried the election'.
(noun.) 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'.
(noun.) (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'.
Checker: Shari--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) Any action in resisting other action or force; counter tendency; movement in a contrary direction; reverse action.
(n.) The mutual or reciprocal action of chemical agents upon each other, or the action upon such chemical agents of some form of energy, as heat, light, or electricity, resulting in a chemical change in one or more of these agents, with the production of new compounds or the manifestation of distinctive characters. See Blowpipe reaction, Flame reaction, under Blowpipe, and Flame.
(n.) An action induced by vital resistance to some other action; depression or exhaustion of vital force consequent on overexertion or overstimulation; heightened activity and overaction succeeding depression or shock.
(n.) The force which a body subjected to the action of a force from another body exerts upon the latter body in the opposite direction.
(n.) Backward tendency or movement after revolution, reform, or great progress in any direction.
Checker: Rosalind
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Rebound, recoil.[2]. Reciprocal action.
Inputed by Artie
Examples
- After which strong avowal Bella underwent reaction, and cried to any extent, with her face on the back of her chair. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- To walk involves a displacement and reaction of the resisting earth, whose thrill is felt wherever there is matter. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- The action and reaction thus constantly at work, tend to give accelerating impulse to invention, and are continually enlarging its sphere of operations. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- But there later came a reaction in favor of lighter guns and quick firers. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- The other is the ejection of a stream of water at the stern, or on both sides of the boat, so as to produce a forward movement by reaction. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- But when the new element requires especial attention, random reaction is the sole recourse unless abstraction is brought into play. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- But she was beginning to feel the strain of the attitude; the reaction was more rapid, and she lapsed to a deeper self-disgust. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- When nitrogen gas is in contact with heated calcium carbide, a reaction takes place which results in the formation of calcium nitride, a compound suitable for enriching the soil. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- But in that intense being lay the strength of reaction. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- He is never constant, always this awful, dreadful reaction. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- That reaction may not be as deplorable as it seems. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Sir Isaac Newton in 1680 proposed a steam carriage propelled by the reaction of a jet of steam. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- The climax of sensual reaction, once reached in any direction, is reached finally, there is no going on. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- For you can only revolt in pure reaction from her-and to be her opposite is to be her counterpart. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- For Gerald was in reaction against Charity; and yet he was dominated by it, it assumed supremacy in the inner life, and he could not confute it. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- The reactions were all varied in various people, but they followed a few great laws, and intrinsically there was no difference. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- And then come the reactions. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- The tremendously complex nature of the chemical reactions which take place in the lead-acid storage battery also renders it an easy prey to many troublesome diseases. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- He is merely selecting the stimuli supplied by the forms of the letters and the motor reactions of oral or written reproduction. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Then it operates to call out mechanical reactions, ability to use the vocal organs to repeat statements, or the hand to write or to do sums. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Characteristic temperature reactions may take place when the object is grasped. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- It is a familiar fact that the young of the higher animals, and especially the human young, have to learn to utilize their instinctive reactions. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Not the least of the applications of the dynamo is its use in electro-metallurgy for plating metals, and also for promoting chemical reactions. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- It surprised him that life should be going on in the old way when his own reactions to it had so completely changed. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- These qualitatively different reactions are called presentations (Vorstellungen). John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- But these flashes of amusement were but brief reactions from the long disgust of her days. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
Checker: Maisie