1635-45;re- + act, probably modeled on Medieval Latinreagere
Examples from the web for react
Scientists typically respond and react after viruses have already spread.
Another imaging study showed a similar compensation effort might help older people react to social situations.
People react to designer labels as signals of underlying quality.
Some people react to stress by reaching for a few too many drinks.
That's because, he says, it may help us understand how reefs around the world will react to an acidifying ocean.
The louder the call, the closer the danger-and the faster the meerkats react.
But the teachers can change their teaching styles in order to react to different students.
Even natural fragrances can react with ozone in the air to make toxins.
It may well be that our mirror neurons react only to actions that are part of our own motor repertoire.
It's the hardest known material, of course, and it doesn't react chemically with other substances.
British Dictionary definitions for react
react
/rɪˈækt/
verb
1.
(intransitive; foll by to, upon etc) (of a person or thing) to act in response to another person, a stimulus, etc, or (of two people or things) to act together in a certain way
2.
(intransitive) foll by against. to act in an opposing or contrary manner
3.
(intransitive) (physics) to exert an equal force in the opposite direction to an acting force
4.
(chem) to undergo or cause to undergo a chemical reaction
Word Origin
C17: from Late Latin reagere, from re- + Latin agere to drive, do
re-act
/riːˈækt/
verb
1.
(transitive) to act or perform again
Word Origin and History for react
v.
1640s, "to exert, as a thing acted upon, an opposite action upon the agent," from re- + act (v.). Chemical sense is from 1944. Related: Reacted; reacting (1610s). For sense development, see reaction. Meaning "perform again" (often re-act) is from 1650s.