High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The term reactionary refers to viewpoints that seek to return to a previous state (the status quo ante) in a society. The term is meant to describe one end of a political spectrum whose opposite pole is "radical". While it has not been generally considered a term of praise it has been adopted as a self-description by some such as H. L. Mencken,Gerald Warner of Craigenmaddie and John Lukacs.