react

American  

[ree-akt] / riˈækt /

verb (used without object)

1. to act in response to an agent or influence.

   How did the audience react to the speech?

2. to act reciprocally upon each other, as two things.

3. to act in a reverse direction or manner, especially so as to return to a prior condition.

4. to act in opposition, as against some force.

5. to respond to a stimulus in a particular manner.

   reacting to a shock by jumping; to react to the word “coward” with anger.

6. to undergo a chemical reaction.

---

react British  

/ rɪˈækt /

verb

1. (intr; foll 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

2. to act in an opposing or contrary manner

3. (intr) physics to exert an equal force in the opposite direction to an acting force

4. chem to undergo or cause to undergo a chemical reaction

---

Etymology

Origin of react

First recorded in 1635–45; re- + act, probably modeled on Medieval Latin reagere

Example Sentences

On Monday, over $200 billion of market capitalization was wiped out of software stocks as the market reacted to a hypothetical artificial-intelligence doomsday scenario.

From MarketWatch

Raising her voice, the former minister said: "I do not react well to being blackmailed."

From BBC

But from a stock perspective, he said it’s not clear that markets would have reacted as positively as they have in the current scenario.

From MarketWatch

Compare and contrast with how Congress will react tonight if the president announces, say, a tax break on American-grown avocados.

From MarketWatch

“We expect to see the stock reacting positively on the back of that, albeit small in comparison to the recent selloff,” the analysts say.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• acknowledge
• act
• answer
• behave
• counter
• feel
• perform
• proceed
• reply
• revert