reactor
nounUS /ɹiˈæktɚ/ · UK /ɹiːˈæktə/
Etymology From react + -or.
1
A person who responds to a suggestion, stimulation or other influence.
- 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 17:
- 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 7:
2
Chemistry, Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences A structure used to contain chemical or other reactions.
3
A device which uses atomic energy to produce heat.
Nuclear physics
- It limits the rights of nonweapon countries to develop an export business in civilian reactor technology.1972, Robert L Pfaltzgraff, Politics and the international system:
- 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 Guardian:
1 more example
- The 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 CNN:
4
Chemistry, Natural sciences, Physical sciences A chemical substance which responds to the presence of, or contact with, another substance.
5
Business, Electrical engineering, Electricity, Electromagnetism, Electronics, Energy, Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Physics An electrical component with reactance
- Derived terms
26 terms
angioreactor, atomic reactor, attoreactor, breeder reactor, chemical reactor, fast-breeder reactor, fast-neutron reactor, fast reactor, fusion reactor, georeactor, heavy-water reactor, hot reactor, light water reactor, microreactor, minireactor, nanoreactor, nonreactor, nuclear reactor, pebble-bed reactor, photoreactor, pressurized water reactor, reactor scram, saturable reactor, seroreactor, sonoreactor, varactor