reactor English · revision 39410

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1836}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ɹiːˈæktə/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /ɹiˈæktɚ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed [[af|en|react|-or]].^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988) Its first sense, a reactionary of the French Revolution, followed [[fr|réacteur]] (1794).^(OED 2026) Barnhart first records the word in 1890 as [[m|en|reacter]], in William James's The Principles of Psychology, with the spelling ''reactor'' from 1895.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A reactionary, especially a Thermidorian of the French Revolution: 1836, in a New York translation of Lucien Bonaparte's memoirs.^(OED 2026) Etymonline dates "one that reacts" to 1835,^(Etymonline) and Merriam-Webster gives 1890.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The general sense, a person or organism that reacts to a stimulus, especially in an experiment, dates from 1890.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988) Medicine and veterinary medicine used it from 1908 for a patient or animal that reacts positively in a test for a disease, especially tuberculosis.^(OED 2026) Chemistry gave it the sense of a vessel in which substances react (1903), electrical engineering a coil that provides [[reactance]] (1915),^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) and physics, in 1945, the apparatus in which a controlled nuclear chain reaction takes place, first in the term ''nuclear reactor''.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1836 – a reactionary in French history.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1890 – one that reacts to a stimulus.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1903 – a vessel for chemical reactions.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1908 – a patient or animal reacting positively to a test.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1915 – a coil providing reactance.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1945 – a nuclear reactor.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An apparatus in which a controlled [[nuclear]] [[chain reaction]] takes place, typically to generate power; a nuclear reactor.^(OED 2026)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A vessel or apparatus in which substances are made to react chemically.^(OED 2026)^(COED 2004)

+ # ''(electronics)'' A [[coil]] or other component that introduces reactance into a circuit.^(AHD 2024)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(medicine)'' A person or animal that reacts to a drug or shows a positive reaction in a test.^(COED 2004)^(MWU 2024)

+ # Someone or something that reacts to a [[stimulus]].^(AHD 2024)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[nonreactor]]

+ * [[atomic reactor]]

+ * [[breeder reactor]]

+ * [[fast-breeder reactor]]

+ * [[fusion reactor]]

+ * [[nuclear reactor]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[react]]

+ * [[reaction]]

+ * [[reactive]]

+ * [[actor]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}