- (intr; followed by to, upon, etc) (of a person or thing) to act in response to another person, a stimulus, etc, or (of two people or things) to act together in a certain way
- (intransitive) followed by against: to act in an opposing or contrary manner
- (intransitive) to exert an equal force in the opposite direction to an acting force
- to undergo or cause to undergo a chemical reaction
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
re•act /riˈækt/USA pronunciation
v. [no object]
- to respond to a stimulus:reacted to the dust by sneezing.
- to act in a reverse direction or manner, esp. so as to return to a condition that existed earlier in time.
- to act in opposition:taxpayers reacting against corruption with their votes.
- Chemistryto undergo a chemical change:The iodine and the unknown chemical reacted by giving off smoke.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
react /rɪˈækt/ vb
re-act
(rē akt′),USA pronunciation v.t.
re•act (rē akt′),USA pronunciation v.i.
- to act or perform again.
- re- + act 1650–60
re•act (rē akt′),USA pronunciation v.i.
- to act in response to an agent or influence:How did the audience react to the speech?
- to act reciprocally upon each other, as two things.
- to act in a reverse direction or manner, esp. so as to return to a prior condition.
- to act in opposition, as against some force.
- to respond to a stimulus in a particular manner:reacting to a shock by jumping; to react to the word "coward'' with anger.
- Chemistryto undergo a chemical reaction.
- re- + act, probably modeled on Medieval Latin reagere 1635–45
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
re-act /riːˈækt/ vb
- (transitive) to act or perform again
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'react' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
act
- allergy
- answer
- Cain
- combustion
- compassion fatigue
- deep
- dimerize
- drama queen
- explode
- handle
- inert
- iodize
- kindly
- kitten
- leap
- nitrify
- overreact
- polymerize
- reactive
- respond
- scavenge
- set
- take
- volumetric analysis
- abreact
- acoustic reactance
- activity
- aluminothermy
- basicity
- behave
- capacitive reactance
- capricious
- chain-react
- chelate
- complement
- cross-react
- draw
- endorphin
- equivalent
- flip
- hapten
- hypersensitive
- immune
- immunity
- inductive reactance
- iodometry
- light
- nonreacting
- re-act
