Definition of Action

1. Noun. Something done (usually as opposed to something said). "There were stories of murders and other unnatural actions"


2. Verb. Institute legal proceedings against; file a suit against. "They action to move "; "She actioned the company for discrimination"
Exact synonyms: Litigate, Process, Sue
Generic synonyms: Challenge
Specialized synonyms: Expedite
Related verbs: Litigate
Derivative terms: Actionable, Litigation, Process, Suer, Suit

3. Noun. The state of being active. "He is out of action"

4. Verb. Put in effect. "He actioned the operation"

5. Noun. A military engagement. "He saw action in Korea"

6. Noun. A process existing in or produced by nature (rather than by the intent of human beings). "Volcanic activity"
Exact synonyms: Activity, Natural Action, Natural Process
Generic synonyms: Physical Process, Process
Specialized synonyms: Radiation, Absorption, Acidification, Adiabatic Process, Aeration, Antiredeposition, Capture, Capture, Centrifugation, Chemical Action, Chemical Change, Chemical Process, Chromatography, Concretion, Condensation, Convection, Clotting, Coagulation, Curdling, Decay, Demagnetisation, Demagnetization, Desorption, Diffusion, Disintegration, Dissolution, Distillation, Distillment, Drift, Effervescence, Cataphoresis, Dielectrolysis, Electrophoresis, Ionophoresis, Ecesis, Establishment, Extinction, Extraction, Feedback, Filtration, Flocculation, Flow, Formation, Fossilisation, Fossilization, Geologic Process, Geological Process, Curing, Hardening, Set, Solidification, Solidifying, Inactivation, Ion Exchange, Ionisation, Ionization, Leach, Leaching, Magnetic Induction, Magnetisation, Magnetization, Materialisation, Materialization, Nuclear Reaction, Opacification, Oscillation, Oxygenation, Pair Creation, Pair Formation, Pair Production, Phase Change, Phase Transition, Physical Change, State Change, Precession Of The Equinoxes, Release, Saltation, Scattering, Sericulture, Sink, Soak, Soakage, Soaking, Softening, Sorption, Source, Rigidification, Rigidifying, Stiffening, Stimulation, Ecological Succession, Succession, Natural Selection, Selection, Survival, Survival Of The Fittest, Synergism, Synergy, Temperature Change, Transduction, Transpiration, Vitrification
Derivative terms: Active, Active

7. Noun. The series of events that form a plot. "His novels always have a lot of action"
Generic synonyms: Plot

8. Noun. The trait of being active and energetic and forceful. "A man of action"
Generic synonyms: Drive

9. Noun. The operating part that transmits power to a mechanism. "The piano had a very stiff action"
Exact synonyms: Action Mechanism
Group relationships: Gun, Keyboard
Specialized synonyms: Firing Mechanism, Gunlock, Movement, Piano Action, Pump Action, Slide Action
Terms within: Key
Generic synonyms: Mechanism

10. Noun. A judicial proceeding brought by one party against another; one party prosecutes another for a wrong done or for protection of a right or for prevention of a wrong.

11. Noun. An act by a government body or supranational organization. "The Union action of emancipating Southern slaves"
Generic synonyms: Group Action

12. Noun. The most important or interesting work or activity in a specific area or field. "Gawkers always try to get as close to the action as possible"
Generic synonyms: Work

Definition of Action

1. n. A process or condition of acting or moving, as opposed to rest; the doing of something; exertion of power or force, as when one body acts on another; the effect of power exerted on one body by another; agency; activity; operation; as, the action of heat; a man of action.

Definition of Action

1. Noun. Something done so as to accomplish a purpose. ¹

2. Noun. A way of motion or functioning. ¹

3. Noun. A fast-paced activity. ¹

4. Noun. A mechanism; a moving part or assembly. ¹

5. Noun. (music) : The mechanism, that is the set of moving mechanical parts, of a keyboard instrument, like a piano, which transfers the motion of the key to the sound-making device.Marshall Cavendish Corporation [ ''Growing Up with Science''] p.1079 ¹

6. Noun. (slang) sexual intercourse. ¹

7. Noun. The distance separating the strings and the fretboard on the guitar. ¹

8. Noun. (military) Combat. ¹

9. Noun. (legal) A charge or other process in a law court (also called lawsuit and ''actio''). ¹

10. Noun. (mathematics) A homomorphism from a group to a group of automorphisms. ¹

11. Interjection. Demanding or signifying the start of something, usually an act or scene of a theatric performance. ¹

12. Verb. (transitive management) To act on a request etc, in order to put it into effect. ¹

13. Verb. (transitive chiefly archaic) To initiate a legal action against someone. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Action

1. the process of acting [n -S]

Medical Definition of Action

1. 1. A process or condition of acting or moving, as opposed to rest; the doing of something; exertion of power or force, as when one body acts on another; the effect of power exerted on one body by another; agency; activity; operation; as, the action of heat; a man of action. "One wise in council, one in action brave." (Pope) 2. An act; a thing done; a deed; an enterprise. (pl): Habitual deeds; hence, conduct; behavior; demeanor. "The Lord is a Good of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed." (1 Sam. Ii. 3) 3. The event or connected series of events, either real or imaginary, forming the subject of a play, poem, or other composition; the unfolding of the drama of events. 4. Movement; as, the horse has a spirited action. 5. Effective motion; also, mechanism; as, the breech action of a gun. 6. Any one of the active processes going on in an organism; the performance of a function; as, the action of the heart, the muscles, or the gastric juice. 7. Gesticulation; the external deportment of the speaker, or the suiting of his attitude, voice, gestures, and countenance, to the subject, or to the feelings. 8. The attitude or position of the several parts of the body as expressive of the sentiment or passion depicted. 9. A suit or process, by which a demand is made of a right in a court of justice; in a broad sense, a judicial proceeding for the enforcement or protection of a right, the redress or prevention of a wrong, or the punishment of a public offense. A right of action; as, the law gives an action for every claim. 10. A share in the capital stock of a joint-stock company, or in the public funds; hence, in the plural, equivalent to stocks. "The Euripus of funds and actions." (Burke) 11. An engagement between troops in war, whether on land or water; a battle; a fight; as, a general action, a partial action. 12. The mechanical contrivance by means of which the impulse of the player's finger is transmitted to the strings of a pianoforte or to the valve of an organ pipe. Chose in action the product of the mass of a body by the space it runs through, and its velocity. Synonym: Action, act. In many cases action and act are synonymous; but some distinction is observable. Action involves the mode or process of acting, and is usually viewed as occupying some time in doing. Act has more reference to the effect, or the operation as complete. "To poke the fire is an act, to reconcile friends who have quarreled is a praiseworthy action." (C. J. Smith) Origin: OF. Action, L. Actio, fr. Agere to do. See Act. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Action

actinostomes
actinote
actinotes
actinotherapy
actinotrichia
actinotrichium
actinotrocha
actinouranium
actinozoa
actinozoal
actinozoan
actinozoon
actins
actinula
actio popularis
action-movie
action-packed
action adventure
action adventures
action at law
action current
action doll
action dolls
action figure
action figures
action film
action group
action hero
action item

Literary usage of Action

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Twelfth Night: Or, What You Will by William Shakespeare, Henry Norman Hudson (1911)
"V. SCENE OF action The First Folio contains no stage directions to guide in determining the scene of action of Twelfth Night, and the locality-setting in ..."

2. The Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle by Aristotle, Robert Williams (1869)
"ALL MORAL action, that is to say all purpose, no less than all art and all science, would seem to aim at some good result, from which has come a not inapt ..."

3. Psychology, General Introduction by Charles Hubbard Judd (1917)
"The name arouses action because it is imperative in its command over one's ... In such a case the action is abruptly changed in its direction of operation. ..."

4. A Treatise on the Law of Executors and Administrators by Edward Vaughan Williams, Roland Lomax Vaughan Williams, Joseph Fitz Randolph, William Talcott (1895)
"OF THE QUANTITY OF THE ESTATE IN action OF AN EXECUTOR OE ADMINISTRATOR. Hitherto the subject as to the quantity of the estate of an executor or ..."

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