Action
['ækʃ(ə)n] or ['ækʃən]
Definition
(noun.) something done (usually as opposed to something said); 'there were stories of murders and other unnatural actions'.
(noun.) the most important or interesting work or activity in a specific area or field; 'the action is no longer in technology stocks but in municipal bonds'; 'gawkers always try to get as close to the action as possible'.
(noun.) an act by a government body or supranational organization; 'recent federal action undermined the segregationist position'; 'the United Nations must have the power to propose and organize action without being hobbled by irrelevant issues'; 'the Union action of emancipating Southern slaves'.
(noun.) the operating part that transmits power to a mechanism; 'the piano had a very stiff action'.
(noun.) the trait of being active and energetic and forceful; 'a man of action'.
(noun.) the series of events that form a plot; 'his novels always have a lot of action'.
(noun.) the state of being active; 'his sphere of activity'; 'he is out of action'.
(verb.) institute legal proceedings against; file a suit against; 'He was warned that the district attorney would process him'; 'She actioned the company for discrimination'.
Inputed by Deborah--From WordNet
Definition
(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.
(n.) An act; a thing done; a deed; an enterprise. (pl.): Habitual deeds; hence, conduct; behavior; demeanor.
(n.) 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.
(n.) Movement; as, the horse has a spirited action.
(n.) Effective motion; also, mechanism; as, the breech action of a gun.
(n.) 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.
(n.) Gesticulation; the external deportment of the speaker, or the suiting of his attitude, voice, gestures, and countenance, to the subject, or to the feelings.
(n.) The attitude or position of the several parts of the body as expressive of the sentiment or passion depicted.
(n.) 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.
(n.) A right of action; as, the law gives an action for every claim.
(n.) A share in the capital stock of a joint-stock company, or in the public funds; hence, in the plural, equivalent to stocks.
(n.) An engagement between troops in war, whether on land or water; a battle; a fight; as, a general action, a partial action.
(n.) 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.
Checker: Maryann
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Activity, exercise, motion, movement, play.[2]. Deed (viewed as requiring a continued exertion of power), performance, exploit, achievement, procedure, proceeding, acting, turn, ACT.[3]. Agency, operation, force, influence, instrumentality, process.[4]. Battle, engagement, conflict, contest, combat, rencontre, encounter, skirmish, brush, affair.[5]. Gesticulation, gesture.[6]. Subject, fable, plot, series of events.[7]. (Law.) Suit, process, case, prosecution.
Checked by Jocelyn
Definition
n. a state of acting: activity in the abstract: a deed: operation: gesture: a battle: a lawsuit or proceedings in a court: the movement of events in a drama novel &c.—adj. Ac′tionable liable to a lawsuit.—n. Ac′tion-tak′ing (Shak.) resenting an injury by a lawsuit instead of fighting it out like a man of honour.
Typed by Lesley
Examples
- For what does reason discover, when it pronounces any action vicious? David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- Mrs. Bardell, the plaintiff in the action, is within these walls, Sir. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- Safety clutches are numerous, by which the machine is quickly and automatically stopped by the action of electro-magnets should a workman or other obstruction be caught in the machinery. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- Notwithstanding its simple action, its structure is complicated by a large amount of adding mechanism. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- But it passed with the action of rising from her chair; and she sat down again very meekly, and fainted. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- The silver, being sensitive to the action of light, is there to record the image. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- According to that doctrine, motives deprive us not of free-will, nor take away our power of performing or forbearing any action. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- I have called this misplaced rationality a piece of learned folly, because it shows itself most dangerously among those thinkers about politics who are divorced from action. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- For example, if the sun's rays fall upon silver chloride, a chemical action immediately begins, and as a result we have two separate substances, chlorine and silver. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- But the desire did not last long enough to carry him into action. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- But the light of that day's discovery, shining on these considerations, roused him to take a more decided course of action. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- The action of others is always influenced by deciding what stimuli shall call out their actions. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- I represented that I knew him (as I did and do) to be strenuously opposed to it, both in opinion and action. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- Defamation of character: action for damages. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- If you would be so kind, said Eunice, vacating her seat at the piano, which action brought a frown to the face of her watchful mother. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- The most trifling actions that affect a man's credit are to be regarded. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- The same experienced union has the same effect on the mind, whether the united objects be motives, volitions and actions; or figure and motion. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- The action of others is always influenced by deciding what stimuli shall call out their actions. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- A commanding general cannot base his actions upon either absolute certainty or absolute ignorance. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- And soon his actions made a most extraordinary reply. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- It _is_ wonderful, replied Wickham, for almost all his actions may be traced to pride; and pride had often been his best friend. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- He said so repeatedly; other things he said too, which marked the turn of his feelings and gave the lie to his actions. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- His resolutions and actions affect a greater number of his fellow-creatures. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- I have not wanted syllables where actions have spoken so plainly. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- The really executive man is a man who ponders his ends, who makes his ideas of the results of his actions as clear and full as possible. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- They were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the veil from men's motives and actions. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- The material of thinking is not thoughts, but actions, facts, events, and the relations of things. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Most people have motives of some sort for their actions. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- To this I reply, that in judging of the actions of men we must proceed upon the same maxims, as when we reason concerning external objects. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- Our actions are more voluntary than our judgments; but we have not more liberty in the one than in the other. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
Checker: Nanette