reacts

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of react.

   The crowd reacts loudly every time the home team scores.

   Litmus paper reacts to acids by turning red.

   Note

   One spelling serves every sense of the verb, from everyday response to the laboratory. In chemistry the partner follows with: a compound reacts with a diene in Diels–Alder chemistry. In ordinary response the trigger follows to: litmus reacts to acids, and a crowd reacts to a goal. The same -s form also spells the plural of the emoji noun. In "she reacts" it is a verb; in "her reacts" it is a noun.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of react.

   The announcement drew a flood of mixed reacts from the online community.

   Moderators counted the reacts before deciding which comment to pin.

   Note

   A plural that belongs entirely to social media. The noun carries only its Internet meaning, the emoji someone attaches to a post. Reacts are never chemical or physical responses, so a laboratory report speaks of reactions, not reacts. The noun pairs with the online sense of the verb: users react to a message, and what they leave behind are reacts. It also keeps the casual tone of the platforms it names.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2