Reactionary means opposed to change and wanting the old ways back. A reactionary position, deeply reactionary, reactionary forces.
It is stronger than conservative, which wants to keep things, where a reactionary wants to undo them. It is nearly always used as an accusation. The word comes from the French Revolution, where it named those working for a reaction against it, and it kept that political charge.
1adjectivereactionaryOpposed to change and wanting the old ways back.
“The reactionary politicians wanted to undo every reform of the last twenty years.”
reactionary is a political position.
French reactionnaire comes from reaction, and was used in the French Revolution for those opposing it.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₂eǵ-
French
réactionnaire
English, today
reactionary
French réactionnaire, equivalent to reaction + -ary. Used in the time of the French revolution to refer to a person opposing the revolution; as in favoring a reaction against the revolution.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA