Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To act in response to or under the influence of a stimulus or prompting.
  • intransitive verb To act in opposition to a former condition or act.
  • intransitive verb To act reciprocally or in return.
  • intransitive verb Chemistry To undergo a reaction.
  • intransitive verb To cause (a substance or substances) to undergo a reaction.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To act or perform anew; reenact: as, to react a play.
  • To exert, as a thing acted upon, an opposite action upon the agent.
  • To act, after being acted upon, in a manner directly opposed to the first action, and in increased measure.
  • To act mutually or reciprocally upon each other, as two or more chemical agents.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To act or perform a second time; to do over again; to reenact
  • intransitive verb To return an impulse or impression; to resist the action of another body by an opposite force.
  • intransitive verb To act upon each other; to exercise a reciprocal or a reverse effect, as two or more chemical agents; to act in opposition.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To act or perform a second time; to do over again; as, to react a play; the same scenes were reacted at Rome.
  • verb To return an impulse or impression; to resist the action of another body by an opposite force; as, every body reacts on the body that impels it from its natural state.
  • verb To act upon each other; to exercise a reciprocal or a reverse effect, as two or more chemical agents; to act in opposition.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb show a response or a reaction to something
  • verb undergo a chemical reaction; react with another substance under certain conditions
  • verb act against or in opposition to

Etymologies

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Examples

  • HANSEN: So, how did the label react when you presented them with "King of Anything"?

    Sara Bareilles: Looking Through A 'Kaleidoscope Heart' 2010

  • HANSEN: So, how did the label react when you presented them with "King of Anything"?

    Sara Bareilles: Looking Through A 'Kaleidoscope Heart' 2010

  • C: Speaking of recording East of Eden in Pakistan, how did your label react when you told them that's what you wanted to do?

    Chicagoist Joseph Erbentraut 2010

  • C: Speaking of recording East of Eden in Pakistan, how did your label react when you told them that's what you wanted to do?

    Chicagoist Joseph Erbentraut 2010

  • C: Speaking of recording East of Eden in Pakistan, how did your label react when you told them that's what you wanted to do?

    Chicagoist Joseph Erbentraut 2010

  • Friends and fans of tennis phenomenon Melanie Oudin react to her latest success in climbing the ranks at the U.S.

    POLITICAL HOT TOPICS: September 08, 2009 2009

  • CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive - Carville, Matalin react to mocking from SNL « - Blogs from CNN. com

    Carville, Matalin react to mocking from SNL 2009

  • Seth's story about how corporations react is classic, and typical of micro thinking - something that, yep you guessed it, I attribute to the profusion of MBAs, PR people and lawyers.

    Geopolitics 2010

  • Seth's story about how corporations react is classic, and typical of micro thinking - something that, yep you guessed it, I attribute to the profusion of MBAs, PR people and lawyers.

    Leadership 2010

  • That sense of discovering your characters and how they react is part of the joy of writing fiction for me.

    A Conversation with Libba Bray about A Great and Terrible Beauty 2010

Comments

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  • (verb): to act in response to something

    April 6, 2010