Meanings
plural reactors
- A person who responds to a suggestion, stimulation or other influence.
Here, humans are seen as active participants in all dimensions of their lives, throughout their life course, and not simply passive reactors to the world around them.
2023, Anne L. Grauer, “Introduction” (chapter 1), in The Routledge Handbook of Paleopathology, Routledge, →DOI, →ISBN, page 71 more example
Altman seees his characters as total reactors; everything they do and say is in response to their environment. They do not seem to exist with lives or qualities of their own.
1983 December 31, Michael Bronski, “A Sharply Focused Film”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 24, page 17Synonyms: reacter
- nuclear physicsA device which uses atomic energy to produce heat.
It limits the rights of nonweapon countries to develop an export business in civilian reactor technology.
1972, Robert L Pfaltzgraff, Politics and the international system2 more examples
It is hoped that a competition to develop small modular reactors (SMRs) will drive billions of pounds of investment into the technology, which the government hopes will be cheaper and quicker to build than traditional large nuclear power plants.
2023 July 18, Joe Middleton, “Shapps announces £157m in grants at launch of new UK nuclear body”, in The GuardianThe second is whether the federal agency has the power to license such facilities away from reactor sites where the waste was generated. […] The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals also ruled the NRC does not have the authority to issue licenses to store nuclear fuel away from reactors.
2025 March 4, John Fritze, “Supreme Court wades into decades-old impasse over how to store nuclear waste”, in CNNSynonyms: nuclear reactor, atomic reactor
- chemistryA chemical substance which responds to the presence of, or contact with, another substance.
- businessAn electrical component with reactance
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA person who responds to a suggestion, stimulation or other influence.
nounA device which uses atomic energy to produce heat.
More synonyms by meaning
noun(physics) any of several kinds of apparatus that maintain and control a nuclear reaction for the production of energy or artificial elements
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Italic*wre-
- Latinre-
- Old Frenchre-
- Middle Englishre-
- Englishre-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂eǵ-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂éǵeti
- Proto-Italic*agō
- Latinagō
- Latināctus
- Latinācta
- Old Frenchact
- Middle Englishacte
- Englishact
- Englishreact
- Englishreactor
Translations
Arabic مُفَاعِل, مُفَاعِل
- مُفَاعِل (mufāʕil)device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
- مُفَاعِل (mufāʕil)chemical substance which responds to another substance
Bulgarian реа́ктор, реаге́нт
- реа́ктор (reáktor)device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
- реаге́нт (reagént)chemical substance which responds to another substance
Catalan reactor, reactor
- reactorstructure used to contain chemical or other reactions
- reactordevice which uses atomic energy to produce heat
- reactiuchemical substance which responds to another substance
Chinese Mandarin 反應器 /反应器, 反應堆 /反应堆
- 反應器 /反应器 (fǎnyìngqì)structure used to contain chemical or other reactions
- 反應堆 /反应堆 (fǎnyìngduī)device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
- 反應爐 /反应炉 (fǎnyìnglú)device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
Czech reaktor
- reaktordevice which uses atomic energy to produce heat
Danish reaktor
- reaktordevice which uses atomic energy to produce heat
Dutch reactor, reactor
- reactorstructure used to contain chemical or other reactions
- reactordevice which uses atomic energy to produce heat
- reagenschemical substance which responds to another substance
Estonian reaktor
- reaktordevice which uses atomic energy to produce heat
Finnish reagoija, reaktori
- reagoijaperson who behaves in response to a suggestion, stimulation or some other influence
- reaktoristructure used to contain chemical or other reactions
- reaktoridevice which uses atomic energy to produce heat
- reaktorichemical substance which responds to another substance
French réacteur, réacteur
- réacteurstructure used to contain chemical or other reactions
- réacteurdevice which uses atomic energy to produce heat
- réactifchemical substance which responds to another substance
German Reaktor, Reaktor
- Reaktorstructure used to contain chemical or other reactions
- Reaktordevice which uses atomic energy to produce heat
- Atomreaktordevice which uses atomic energy to produce heat
- Meilerdevice which uses atomic energy to produce heat
- Atommeilerdevice which uses atomic energy to produce heat
- Reagenzchemical substance which responds to another substance
Hebrew כּוּר
- כּוּר (kur)device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
Hungarian reaktor
- reaktordevice which uses atomic energy to produce heat
Indonesian reaktor
- reaktordevice which uses atomic energy to produce heat
Irish soitheach imoibriúcháin, imoibreoir
- soitheach imoibriúcháinstructure used to contain chemical or other reactions
- imoibreoirdevice which uses atomic energy to produce heat
- imoibreoirchemical substance which responds to another substance
Italian reattore nucleare, reattivo
- reattore nuclearedevice which uses atomic energy to produce heat
- reattivochemical substance which responds to another substance
- reagentechemical substance which responds to another substance
Japanese 原子炉
- 原子炉 (genshiro)device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
Korean 원자로
- 원자로 (wonjaro)device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
Latvian reaktors
- reaktorsdevice which uses atomic energy to produce heat
Lithuanian reaktorius
- reaktoriusdevice which uses atomic energy to produce heat
Norwegian Bokmål reaktor
- reaktordevice which uses atomic energy to produce heat
Persian رآکتور
- رآکتور (re-âktor)device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
Polish reaktor, reaktor
- reaktorstructure used to contain chemical or other reactions
- reaktordevice which uses atomic energy to produce heat
- reagentchemical substance which responds to another substance
Portuguese reator, reator
- reatorstructure used to contain chemical or other reactions
- reatordevice which uses atomic energy to produce heat
- reagentechemical substance which responds to another substance
- reativochemical substance which responds to another substance
Romanian reactor
- reactordevice which uses atomic energy to produce heat
Russian реактор, реа́ктор
- реактор (reaktor)structure used to contain chemical or other reactions
- реа́ктор (reáktor)device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
- реаге́нт (reagént)chemical substance which responds to another substance
- реакти́в (reaktív)chemical substance which responds to another substance
Slovak reaktor
- reaktordevice which uses atomic energy to produce heat
Spanish reactor
- reactordevice which uses atomic energy to produce heat
Swedish reaktor, reaktor
- reaktorstructure used to contain chemical or other reactions
- reaktordevice which uses atomic energy to produce heat
- reagentchemical substance which responds to another substance
Thai เครื่องปฏิกรณ์, เตาปฏิกรณ์
- เครื่องปฏิกรณ์device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
- เตาปฏิกรณ์device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
Turkish reaktör
- reaktördevice which uses atomic energy to produce heat
Ukrainian реа́ктор
- реа́ктор (reáktor)device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
Vietnamese lò phản ứng
- lò phản ứngdevice which uses atomic energy to produce heat
Welsh adweithydd, adweithydd
- adweithyddstructure used to contain chemical or other reactions
- adweithydddevice which uses atomic energy to produce heat
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with reactor
Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
reactor. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reactor
“reactor.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reactor. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “reactor,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reactor.
Source: reactor on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.