Standard Lemma guide

reactor

noun · 7 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /ɹiˈæktɚ/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ɹiːˈæktə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -æktə(ɹ)
  • homophone: reacter
  • CMU ARPABET: R IY0 AE1 K T ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A person who responds to a suggestion, stimulation or other influence.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: reacter

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A structure used to contain chemical or other reactions.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: chemistry, engineering, natural-sciences, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A device which uses atomic energy to produce heat.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Qualifier: nuclear physics

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: nuclear reactor, atomic reactor

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A chemical substance which responds to the presence of, or contact with, another substance.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: chemistry, natural-sciences, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

An electrical component with reactance

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: business, electrical-engineering, electricity, electromagnetism, electronics, energy, engineering, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

(physics) any of several kinds of apparatus that maintain and control a nuclear reaction for the production of energy or artificial elements

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: nuclear reactor

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: apparatus, setup

Narrower terms: atomic pile, atomic reactor, pile, chain reactor, breeder reactor, fast reactor, gas-cooled reactor, liquid metal reactor, thermal reactor, thermonuclear reactor, fusion reactor, water-cooled reactor

7

noun

Meaning 7

an electrical device used to introduce reactance into a circuit

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: electrical device

Narrower terms: coil

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English react Proto-Indo-European *-tōr Proto-Italic *-tōr Latin -tor Latin -ātor Old French -eorbor. Middle English -our ▲ Latin -torlbor. English -or English reactor From react + -or.

Across languages

Translations

86 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: reagoija — person who behaves in response to a suggestion, stimulation or some other influence
  • Belarusian: рэактар (reaktar) — structure used to contain chemical or other reactions
  • Catalan: reactor — structure used to contain chemical or other reactions
  • Chinese Mandarin: 反應器 /反应器 (fǎnyìngqì) — structure used to contain chemical or other reactions
  • Dutch: reactor — structure used to contain chemical or other reactions
  • Finnish: reaktori — structure used to contain chemical or other reactions
  • French: réacteur — structure used to contain chemical or other reactions
  • German: Reaktor — structure used to contain chemical or other reactions
  • Irish: soitheach imoibriúcháin — structure used to contain chemical or other reactions
  • Polish: reaktor — structure used to contain chemical or other reactions
  • Portuguese: reator — structure used to contain chemical or other reactions
  • Russian: реактор (reaktor) — structure used to contain chemical or other reactions
  • Swedish: reaktor — structure used to contain chemical or other reactions
  • Welsh: adweithydd — structure used to contain chemical or other reactions
  • Albanian: reaktor — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Arabic: مُفَاعِل (mufāʕil) — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Armenian: ռեակտոր (ṙeaktor) — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Azerbaijani: reaktor — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Belarusian: рэа́ктар (reáktar) — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Bulgarian: реа́ктор (reáktor) — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Catalan: reactor — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Chinese Mandarin: 反應堆 /反应堆 (fǎnyìngduī) — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Chinese Mandarin: 反應爐 /反应炉 (fǎnyìnglú) — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Czech: reaktor — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Danish: reaktor — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Dutch: reactor — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Estonian: reaktor — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Finnish: reaktori — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • French: réacteur — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Georgian: რეაქტორი (reakṭori) — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • German: Reaktor — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • German: Atomreaktor — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • German: Meiler — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • German: Atommeiler — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Hebrew: כּוּר (kur) — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Hungarian: reaktor — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Indonesian: reaktor — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Interlingua: reactor — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Irish: imoibreoir — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Italian: reattore nucleare — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Japanese: 原子炉 (genshiro) — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Kazakh: реактор (reaktor) — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Korean: 원자로 (wonjaro) — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Kyrgyz: реактор (reaktor) — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Latvian: reaktors — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Lithuanian: reaktorius — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Macedonian: реа́ктор (reáktor) — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Norwegian Bokmål: reaktor — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: reaktor — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Persian: رآکتور (re-âktor) — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Polish: reaktor — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Portuguese: reator — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Romanian: reactor — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Russian: реа́ктор (reáktor) — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Serbo-Croatian: рѐактор — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Serbo-Croatian: rèaktor — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Slovak: reaktor — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Slovene: reaktor — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Spanish: reactor — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Swedish: reaktor — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Tajik: реактор (reaktor) — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Thai: เครื่องปฏิกรณ์ — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Thai: เตาปฏิกรณ์ — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Turkish: reaktör — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Ukrainian: реа́ктор (reáktor) — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Uzbek: reaktor — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Vietnamese: lò phản ứng — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Welsh: adweithydd — device which uses atomic energy to produce heat
  • Arabic: مُفَاعِل (mufāʕil) — chemical substance which responds to another substance
  • Bulgarian: реаге́нт (reagént) — chemical substance which responds to another substance
  • Catalan: reactiu — chemical substance which responds to another substance
  • Dutch: reagens — chemical substance which responds to another substance
  • Finnish: reaktori — chemical substance which responds to another substance
  • French: réactif — chemical substance which responds to another substance
  • German: Reagenz — chemical substance which responds to another substance
  • Interlingua: reagente — chemical substance which responds to another substance
  • Irish: imoibreoir — chemical substance which responds to another substance
  • Italian: reattivo — chemical substance which responds to another substance
  • Italian: reagente — chemical substance which responds to another substance
  • Kazakh: әрекеткі (äreketkı) — chemical substance which responds to another substance
  • Polish: reagent — chemical substance which responds to another substance
  • Portuguese: reagente — chemical substance which responds to another substance
  • Portuguese: reativo — chemical substance which responds to another substance
  • Russian: реаге́нт (reagént) — chemical substance which responds to another substance
  • Russian: реакти́в (reaktív) — chemical substance which responds to another substance
  • Swedish: reagent — chemical substance which responds to another substance
Real reading context

reactor in complete knowledge articles