rhizoverbBeta
DictionaryRoot: agere
Latin

agere

drive, set in motion; do

Forms

  • ag-
  • act- — Latin stem of the form meaning ‘done.’
  • -ig- — Used in some Latin compounds.

Origin

Reconstructed Proto-Indo-European *ag-, ‘drive; lead.’

Note

A root for driving things forward also came to describe performing an action.

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adjective / noun

reactionary

ree-AK-shuh-nair-ee/riˈækʃəneri/

Favoring a return to earlier political or social conditions.

The party’s reactionary wing wanted to restore the old hierarchy.

Etymology
reLatinback, again; restoration or reversal
+actLatindrive, set in motion; do
+ionLatinan action, process, or result
+aryEnglishrelating to; a person or thing connected with

The pieces suggest acting back against another action. In politics, this became resistance aimed at checking or undoing change, giving reactionary its sense of strong opposition to political or social reform.

In context

Property and Freedom Society13:42
I think the more important forces in government tended to be reactionary. That means they wanted to avoid increasing schooling
PFP227 | Rahim Taghizadegan - Schooling as State-Making (PFS 2021)

More examples

  • He criticized the proposal as reactionary.
  • The historian studied a reactionary movement against reform.
  • A reactionary defended the return of earlier social restrictions.

Forms

reactionary · reactionaries · more reactionary · most reactionary

Similar words

conservative
Conservative generally favors preserving existing arrangements; reactionary seeks a return to earlier ones.
regressive
Regressive describes movement backward; reactionary particularly identifies a political or social stance.