How to Use reactive in a Sentence

reactive

adjective
  • The government's response to the problem was reactive rather than proactive.
  • Place the lime juice and orange juice in a non-reactive bowl, add the salt and whisk to dissolve.
    Leslie Brenner, Dallas News, 4 June 2021
  • To prepare the shrimp: Put the shrimp in a non-reactive bowl and add enough lime juice to barely cover.
    SFChronicle.com, 18 Sep. 2020
  • Granted, most of their moves have been reactive and not proactive, but that’s the hand they were dealt.
    Chris Perkins, Sun Sentinel, 25 June 2024
  • The goal should be, in part, to prepare to be less reactive and engage in longer-term planning.
    Ron Zamir, Forbes, 20 Oct. 2021
  • Lace up your roller skates and put on your blacklight reactive neon.
    Katie Bain, Billboard, 4 Nov. 2022
  • The broadcaster is not on the hook to be proactive here, but rather reactive.
    Tony Maglio, IndieWire, 4 Nov. 2024
  • What this means for your first message: Again, try to keep the first few messages light and don’t open up with a reactive note.
    Naydeline Mejia, Women's Health, 9 Aug. 2023
  • The key is to be responsive, rather than reactive, Lee says.
    Aryelle Siclait, Women's Health, 15 Mar. 2023
  • Instead, the lifeguards switch to more of a reactive approach.
    Greg Wehner, Fox News, 4 Sep. 2023
  • Now, place the slices in a clean, non-reactive container.
    Betty Liu, Bon Appétit, 20 Mar. 2021
  • Take a half-pound of butter, dice it and put it over low heat in a non-reactive pot until the butter browns.
    Kathryn Gregory, The Courier-Journal, 19 June 2021
  • But by and large their defensive style skews more to the reactive and passive side.
    The Salt Lake Tribune, 16 Jan. 2022
  • Most are far too strong for my reactive, acne-prone skin.
    Esther Newman, refinery29.com, 6 Aug. 2024
  • The handling is light, laughably nimble and reactive for so large a bike (536 pounds).
    Dan Neil, WSJ, 13 May 2021
  • Another one of my favorite things about the chair is its reactive seat tilt.
    Sarah Toscano, EW.com, 3 Feb. 2022
  • The office, Lenzner said, hopes to be proactive and not just reactive.
    Washington Post, 11 Mar. 2021
  • Music, of course, and these voice-reactive LED power cables are a great way to charge up your mood!
    Popular Science, 15 Dec. 2020
  • How often should guys be getting into those kind of things, the reactive strength moves?
    Greg Presto, Men's Health, 29 Nov. 2022
  • And consumers are less reactive to price changes in some countries than in others.
    Carol Ryan, WSJ, 20 Oct. 2021
  • There are two main ways, according to Rupp, one that's more proactive and one that’s more reactive.
    Sarah Bowman, The Indianapolis Star, 20 Apr. 2021
  • Be proactive instead of reactive, and think beyond the near-term.
    Bob Helbig, Hartford Courant, 16 Mar. 2024
  • The only way to take part in these milestones is to be here for them, and a reactive approach to personal health won’t cut it.
    Annie Lane, oregonlive, 5 Nov. 2021
  • Among a sample of 68 healthy adults in Germany who had not been exposed to the coronavirus, 35% had T cells in their blood that were reactive to the virus.
    Ivana Kottasová, CNN, 3 Aug. 2020
  • But she’s reduced to a reactive presence this time out, which sells the character short.
    Nina Metz, Chicago Tribune, 30 Nov. 2022
  • The brain is highly reactive in this stage, almost to the point of appearing awake on brain scans, expert say.
    Sandee Lamotte, CNN, 25 June 2020
  • If the reason for your outbreak shape is speed, then reactive strategies are going to be very hard to pull off.
    Gregory Barber, Wired, 7 July 2020
  • The line has saved and continues to save my very sensitive and reactive skin.
    Kiana Murden, Vogue, 30 June 2024
  • Older people naturally have more reactive oxygen species, which is why chronic diseases tend to be more common with age.
    Karen Weintraub, USA TODAY, 27 Nov. 2024
  • Abbott has maintained that Texas will have a proactive versus reactive stance at the border and will be prepared should a surge happen ahead of President-elect Trump’s inauguration.
    Juliann Ventura, The Hill, 24 Nov. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'reactive.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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