Definition of "reactionary" []

• Characterized by reaction, especially opposition to progress or liberalism; extremely conservative. (adjective)
• An opponent of progress or liberalism; an extreme conservative. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Consequently, I believe the term reactionary NOW applies in its strictest sense to prog-wacks."
• "So if a reactionary is a believer in order, a progressive is — a believer in disorder?"
• ""I've been much criticized of late," laments the senator over a lavish dinner with lobbyists, "by irresponsible people of course, for what they term my reactionary association with big business.""