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say it: ree-AK-shuhn
reaction is a noun meaning "(chemistry) a process in which one or more substances are changed into others". It carries 7 recorded senses.
(chemistry) a process in which one or more substances are changed into others
“there was a chemical reaction of the lime with the ground water”
chemistry
an idea evoked by some experience
“his reaction to the news was to start planning what to do”
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”
(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”
mechanics
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”
extreme conservatism in political or social matters
“the forces of reaction carried the election”
doing something in opposition to another way of doing it that you don't like
“his style of painting was a reaction against cubism”
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for reaction come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.