action

[ ak-shuhn ]
See synonyms for action on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the process or state of acting or of being active: The machine is not in action now.

  2. something done or performed; act; deed.

  1. an act that one consciously wills and that may be characterized by physical or mental activity: a crisis that demands action instead of debate; hoping for constructive action by the landlord.

  2. actions, habitual or usual acts; conduct: He is responsible for his actions.

  3. energetic activity: a man of action.

  4. an exertion of power or force: the action of wind upon a ship's sails.

  5. effect or influence: the action of morphine.

  6. Physiology. a change in organs, tissues, or cells leading to performance of a function, as in muscular contraction.

  7. way or manner of moving: the action of a machine or of a horse.

  8. the mechanism by which something is operated, as that of a gun or a piano.

  9. a military encounter or engagement; battle, skirmish, or the like.

  10. actual engagement in fighting an enemy; military or naval combat: He saw action in Vietnam.

  11. Literature. the main subject or story, as distinguished from an incidental episode.

  12. Theater.

    • an event or series of events that form part of a dramatic plot: the action of a scene.

    • one of the three unities.: Compare unity (def. 8).

  13. the gestures or deportment of an actor or speaker.

  14. Fine Arts. the appearance of animation, movement, or emotion given to figures by their attitude, position, or expression.

  15. Law.

    • a proceeding instituted by one party against another.

    • the right of bringing it.

  16. Slang.

    • interesting or exciting activity, often of an illicit nature: He gave us some tips on where the action was.

    • gambling or the excitement of gambling: The casino usually offers plenty of action.

    • money bet in gambling, especially illegally.

  17. Ecclesiastical.

    • a religious ceremony, especially a Eucharistic service.

    • the canon of the Mass.

    • those parts of a service of worship in which the congregation participates.

adjective
  1. characterized by brisk or dynamic action: an action car; an action melodrama.

Idioms about action

  1. in action,

    • performing or taking part in a characteristic act: The school baseball team is in action tonight.

    • working; functioning: His rescuing the child was bravery in action.

  2. out of action, removed from action, as by sudden disability: The star halfback is out of action with a bad knee.

  1. piece of the action, Informal. a share of the proceeds or profits: Cut me in for a piece of the action.

  2. take action,

    • to start doing something: As soon as we get his decision, we'll take action.

    • to start a legal procedure.

Origin of action

1
First recorded in1300–50; from Latin āctiōn- (stem of āctiō ), equivalent to āct(us) (past participle) + -iōn- replacing Middle English accioun, from Anglo-French, from Latin ; see origin at act, -ion

synonym study For action

2. Action, act, deed mean something done. Action applies especially to the doing, act to the result of the doing. An action usually lasts through some time and consists of more than one act: to take action on a petition. An act is single: an act of kindness. Deed emphasizes the finished or completed quality of an act; it may imply an act of some note, good or bad: an irrevocable deed; a deed of daring. 12. See battle1.

word story For action

English action comes from Middle English accioun, action, one of whose common meanings is in the legal domain: “a proceeding instituted by one party against another, or the right to bring such a proceeding.” Another common meaning in Middle English is “something done, an act, a deed.” The Middle English noun comes partly from Anglo-French and Old French and partly from Latin āctiō (stem āctiōn- ). Āctiō is formed from āc-, the perfect participle stem of the verb agere, and the noun suffix -tiō, which is used to form abstract nouns from verbs (here expressing action). Latin agere has as many meanings as English do or make. The original meaning of agere was “to drive (cattle, horses, goats, beasts of burden), ride (a horse), drive (a chariot).”
Agere is from the same Proto-Indo-European root, ag- “to drive, lead, bring,” as Greek ágein “to lead, drive,” agōgós “a leader” (as in demagogue and pedagogue ). In Celtic, the participle aktos is the root of ambaktos, ambiaktos “one sent around, ambassador,” adopted from Gaulish into Latin as ambactus “servant, retainer.” Germanic adopted the Celtic word as ambachts “servant” in Gothic, ambacht in Old High German, and, much reduced, Amt “office, authority, post, duty” in German.

Other words for action

Opposites for action

Other words from action

  • ac·tion·less, adjective
  • non·ac·tion, noun
  • pre·ac·tion, noun
  • pro·ac·tion, adjective

Other definitions for ACTION (2 of 2)

ACTION
[ ak-shuhn ]

nounU.S. Government.
  1. an independent agency created in 1971 to administer domestic volunteer programs.

Origin of ACTION

2
Named by analogy with the acronymic names of other agencies, but itself not an acronym

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use action in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for action

action

/ (ˈækʃən) /


noun
  1. the state or process of doing something or being active; operation

  2. something done, such as an act or deed

  1. movement or posture during some physical activity

  2. activity, force, or energy: a man of action

  3. (usually plural) conduct or behaviour

  4. law

    • a legal proceeding brought by one party against another, seeking redress of a wrong or recovery of what is due; lawsuit

    • the right to bring such a proceeding

  5. the operating mechanism, esp in a piano, gun, watch, etc

  6. (of a guitar) the distance between the strings and the fingerboard

  7. (of keyboard instruments) the sensitivity of the keys to touch

  8. the force applied to a body: the reaction is equal and opposite to the action

  9. the way in which something operates or works

  10. out of action not functioning

  11. physics

    • a property of a system expressed as twice the mean kinetic energy of the system over a given time interval multiplied by the time interval

    • the product of work or energy and time, usually expressed in joule seconds: Planck's constant of action

  12. the events that form the plot of a story, film, play, or other composition

  13. military

    • a minor engagement

    • fighting at sea or on land: he saw action in the war

  14. philosophy behaviour which is voluntary and explicable in terms of the agent's reasons, as contrasted with that which is coerced or determined causally

  15. British short for industrial action

  16. informal the profits of an enterprise or transaction (esp in the phrase a piece of the action)

  17. slang the main activity, esp social activity

verb(tr)
  1. to put into effect; take action concerning: matters decided at the meeting cannot be actioned until the following week

interjection
  1. a command given by a film director to indicate that filming is to begin: See also cue 1 (def. 8)

Origin of action

1
C14: accioun, ultimately from Latin āctiōn-, stem of āctiō, from agere to do, act

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with action

action

In addition to the idioms beginning with action

  • actions speak louder than words

also see:

  • all talk and no action
  • piece of the action
  • swing into action

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.