Reactionary

[ThisIsNotARealAvo]

This is driving me insane atm. I keep hearing and seeing the word "reactionary" used completely wrong. It doesn't mean that you react quickly, it means that you are conservative and oppose social reform. So people protesting at the BLM marches aren't reactionary, the people who don't want the statues of slave owners removed are.

I just needed to have a moan and I knew this was the place.

See also: ambivalent. It means you have strong feelings in opposite directions, not that you don't care either way. I have a colleague who thinks this word makes her sound clever.

Ooh, that's annoying. I work in communications and I've sometimes been asked to gather a "reactionary" statement to a potential issue instead of "reactive". I've had some fun dreaming up ultra conservative responses from an imaginary 18th century French monarchist. I may need to get out more