reactor: Meaning and Definition of

re•ac•tor

Pronunciation: (rē-ak'tur), [key]
— n.
  1. a person or thing that reacts or undergoes reaction.
  2. a device whose primary purpose is to introduce reactance into a circuit.
  3. a patient or animal that reacts positively towards a foreign material.
  4. Also calledan apparatus in which a nuclear-fission chain reaction can be initiated, sustained, and controlled, for generating heat or producing useful radiation.
  5. (esp. in industry) a large container, as a vat, for processes in which the substances involved undergo a chemical reaction.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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