reactance.

1. Resistance prompted by a perceived restriction of freedom to choose.

2. Opposition to alternating current caused by capacitance or inductance.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• psychological reactance
• provoke reactance

On the page

The forceful appeal provoked reactance rather than agreement.

Usage notes

Primary category: psychology / human behavior. Forms: Usually uncountable; no ordinary plural in this sense. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: character, interpretation. Commonness: moderately common.