react

English

Alternative forms

• reäct (rare)

Etymology

From re- +‎ act.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹiːˈækt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ækt

Verb

react (third-person singular simple present reacts, present participle reacting, simple past and past participle reacted)

1. (intransitive) To act in response.

   How did she react to the news?

2. (transitive, now rare) To act or perform a second time; to do over again; to reenact.
   • 1791, Thomas Paine, Rights of Man:

     It is somewhat extraordinary, that the offence for which James II, was expelled, that of setting up power by assumption, should be re-acted, under another shape and form, by the parliament that expelled him.

3. (physics, intransitive) To return an impulse or impression; to resist the action of another body by an opposite force

   Every body reacts on the body that impels it from its natural state.

4. (chemistry, intransitive) To act upon each other; to exercise a reciprocal or a reverse effect, as two or more chemical agents; to act in opposition.
5. (chemistry, transitive) To cause chemical agents to react; to cause one chemical agent to react with another.
6. (Internet, intransitive) To post a reaction (icon or emoji indicating how one feels about a posted message).

Derived terms

Related terms

• interreact, interreaction

Translations

Noun

react (plural reacts)

1. (Internet) An emoji used to express a reaction to a post on social media.

   Sad reacts only

Anagrams

• Carte, Cater, Trace, acter, caret, carte, cater, crate, creat, recta, trace

Portuguese

Etymology

Pseudo-anglicism.

Pronunciation

Noun

react m (plural reacts)

1. (Brazil, Internet slang) a video reviewing or responding another video (not necessarily as a real-time reaction)