Library / English Dictionary

ACTION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Something done (usually as opposed to something said)

Example:

there were stories of murders and other unnatural actions

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("action" is a kind of...):

act; deed; human action; human activity (something that people do or cause to happen)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "action"):

thing (an action)

exercise (an action, often used negatively and without consequences)

benignity; kindness (a kind act)

accomplishment; achievement (the action of accomplishing something)

alienation (the action of alienating; the action of causing to become unfriendly)

application (the action of putting something into operation)

res gestae (things done)

course; course of action (a mode of action)

interaction (a mutual or reciprocal action; interacting)

fetch (the action of fetching)

playing (the action of taking part in a game or sport or other recreation)

play; swordplay (the act using a sword (or other weapon) vigorously and skillfully)

arrival (the act of arriving at a certain place)

carrying into action; carrying out; execution; performance (the act of performing; of doing something successfully; using knowledge as distinguished from merely possessing it)

choice; option; pick; selection (the act of choosing or selecting)

change (the action of changing something)

economy; saving (an act of economizing; reduction in cost)

forbiddance; inhibition; prohibition (the action of prohibiting or inhibiting or forbidding (or an instance thereof))

opposition; resistance (the action of opposing something that you disapprove or disagree with)

bruxism (involuntarily or unconsciously clenching or grinding the teeth, typically during sleep)

transfusion (the action of pouring a liquid from one vessel to another)

pickings; taking (the act of someone who picks up or takes something)

transgression (the action of going beyond or overstepping some boundary or limit)

aggression; hostility (violent action that is hostile and usually unprovoked)

destabilisation; destabilization (the action of destabilizing; making something less stable (especially of a government or country or economy))

employment; engagement (the act of giving someone a job)

civility; politeness (the act of showing regard for others)

reverence (an act showing respect (especially a bow or curtsy))

consultation; reference (the act of referring or consulting)

accenting; accentuation; emphasizing (the act of giving special importance or significance to something)

beatification (the action of rendering supremely blessed and extremely happy)

jump-start; jumpstart (starting an automobile engine that has a weak battery by means of jumper cables to another car)

stupefaction (the action of stupefying; making dull or lethargic)

vampirism (the actions or practices of a vampire)

Derivation:

act (perform an action, or work out or perform (an action))

Sense 2

Meaning:

The most important or interesting work or activity in a specific area or field

Example:

gawkers always try to get as close to the action as possible

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("action" is a kind of...):

work (activity directed toward making or doing something)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A military engagement

Example:

he saw action in Korea

Synonyms:

action; military action

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("action" is a kind of...):

group action (action taken by a group of people)

Domain category:

armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "action"):

amphibious landing (a military action of coordinated land, sea, and air forces organized for an invasion)

battle; conflict; engagement; fight (a hostile meeting of opposing military forces in the course of a war)

blockade; encirclement (a war measure that isolates some area of importance to the enemy)

defence; defense; defensive measure ((military) military action or resources protecting a country against potential enemies)

electronic warfare; EW (military action involving the use of electromagnetic energy to determine or exploit or reduce or prevent hostile use of the electromagnetic spectrum)

police action (a local military action without declaration of war; against violators of international peace and order)

resistance (the military action of resisting the enemy's advance)

saber rattling; sabre rattling (the ostentatious display of military power (with the implied threat that it might be used))

sally; sortie (a military action in which besieged troops burst forth from their position)

war; warfare (the waging of armed conflict against an enemy)

Sense 4

Meaning:

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

Synonyms:

action; action at law; legal action

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("action" is a kind of...):

legal proceeding; proceeding; proceedings ((law) the institution of a sequence of steps by which legal judgments are invoked)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "action"):

antitrust case (a legal action brought against parties who are charged with limiting free competition in the market place)

civil action (legal action to protect a private civil right or to compel a civil remedy (as distinguished from criminal prosecution))

counterclaim (a claim filed in opposition to another claim in a legal action)

custody case (a legal action to determine custody (usually of children following a divorce))

lis pendens (a pending lawsuit)

criminal prosecution; prosecution (the institution and conduct of legal proceedings against a defendant for criminal behavior)

test case; test suit (a representative legal action whose outcome is likely to become a precedent)

Derivation:

action (institute legal proceedings against; file a suit against)

Sense 5

Meaning:

An act by a government body or supranational organization

Example:

the Union action of emancipating Southern slaves

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("action" is a kind of...):

group action (action taken by a group of people)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The operating part that transmits power to a mechanism

Example:

the piano had a very stiff action

Synonyms:

action; action mechanism

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("action" is a kind of...):

mechanism (device consisting of a piece of machinery; has moving parts that perform some function)

Meronyms (parts of "action"):

key (a lever (as in a keyboard) that actuates a mechanism when depressed)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "action"):

firing mechanism; gunlock (the action that ignites the charge in a firearm)

movement (the driving and regulating parts of a mechanism (as of a watch or clock))

piano action (action consisting of a system of levers that move a felt hammer to strike the strings when a key is depressed)

pump action; slide action (action mechanism in a modern rifle or shotgun; a back and forward motion of a sliding lever ejects the empty shell case and cocks the firearm and loads a new round)

Holonyms ("action" is a part of...):

gun (a weapon that discharges a missile at high velocity (especially from a metal tube or barrel))

keyboard (device consisting of a set of keys on a piano or organ or typewriter or typesetting machine or computer or the like)

Sense 7

Meaning:

The trait of being active and energetic and forceful

Example:

a man of action

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("action" is a kind of...):

drive (the trait of being highly motivated)

Sense 8

Meaning:

The series of events that form a plot

Example:

his novels always have a lot of action

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("action" is a kind of...):

plot (the story that is told in a novel or play or movie etc.)

Sense 9

Meaning:

A process existing in or produced by nature (rather than by the intent of human beings)

Example:

volcanic activity

Synonyms:

action; activity; natural action; natural process

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Hypernyms ("action" is a kind of...):

physical process; process (a sustained phenomenon or one marked by gradual changes through a series of states)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "action"):

radiation (the spread of a group of organisms into new habitats)

absorption ((physics) the process in which incident radiated energy is retained without reflection or transmission on passing through a medium)

acidification (the process of becoming acid or being converted into an acid)

adiabatic process ((thermodynamics) any process that occurs without gain or loss of heat)

aeration (the process of exposing to air (so as to purify))

antiredeposition (the process of preventing redeposition)

capture (any process in which an atomic or nuclear system acquires an additional particle)

capture (a process whereby a star or planet holds an object in its gravitational field)

centrifugation (the process of separating substances of different densities by the use of a centrifuge)

chemical action; chemical change; chemical process ((chemistry) any process determined by the atomic and molecular composition and structure of the substances involved)

chromatography (a process used for separating mixtures by virtue of differences in absorbency)

concretion (the formation of stonelike objects within a body organ (e.g., the kidneys))

condensation (the process of changing from a gaseous to a liquid or solid state)

convection ((meteorology) the vertical movement of heat or other properties by massive motion within the atmosphere)

clotting; coagulation; curdling (the process of forming semisolid lumps in a liquid)

decay (the process of gradually becoming inferior)

demagnetisation; demagnetization (the process of removing magnetization)

desorption (changing from an adsorbed state on a surface to a gaseous or liquid state)

diffusion ((physics) the process in which there is movement of a substance from an area of high concentration of that substance to an area of lower concentration)

disintegration; dissolution (separation into component parts)

distillation; distillment (the process of purifying a liquid by boiling it and condensing its vapors)

drift (the gradual departure from an intended course due to external influences (as a ship or plane))

effervescence (the process of bubbling as gas escapes)

cataphoresis; dielectrolysis; electrophoresis; ionophoresis (the motion of charged particles in a colloid under the influence of an electric field; particles with a positive charge go to the cathode and negative to the anode)

ecesis; establishment ((ecology) the process by which a plant or animal becomes established in a new habitat)

extinction (the reduction of the intensity of radiation as a consequence of absorption and radiation)

extraction (the process of obtaining something from a mixture or compound by chemical or physical or mechanical means)

feedback (the process in which part of the output of a system is returned to its input in order to regulate its further output)

filtration (the process whereby fluids pass through a filter or a filtering medium)

flocculation (the process of flocculating; forming woolly cloudlike aggregations)

flow (any uninterrupted stream or discharge)

formation (natural process that causes something to form)

fossilisation; fossilization (the process of fossilizing a plant or animal that existed in some earlier age; the process of being turned to stone)

geologic process; geological process ((geology) a natural process whereby geological features are modified)

curing; hardening; set; solidification; solidifying (the process of becoming hard or solid by cooling or drying or crystallization)

inactivation (the process of rendering inactive)

ion exchange (a process in which ions are exchanged between a solution and an insoluble (usually resinous) solid; widely used in industrial processing)

ionisation; ionization (the process of ionizing; the formation of ions by separating atoms or molecules or radicals or by adding or subtracting electrons from atoms by strong electric fields in a gas)

leach; leaching (the process of leaching)

magnetic induction; magnetisation; magnetization (the process that makes a substance magnetic (temporarily or permanently))

materialisation; materialization (the process of coming into being; becoming reality)

nuclear reaction ((physics) a process that alters the energy or structure or composition of atomic nuclei)

opacification (the process of becoming cloudy or opaque)

oscillation (the process of oscillating between states)

oxygenation (the process of providing or combining or treating with oxygen)

pair creation; pair formation; pair production (the transformation of a gamma-ray photon into an electron and a positron when the photon passes close to an atomic nucleus)

phase change; phase transition; physical change; state change (a change from one state (solid or liquid or gas) to another without a change in chemical composition)

precession of the equinoxes (a slow westward shift of the equinoxes along the plane of the ecliptic caused by precession of the Earth's axis of rotation)

release (a process that liberates or discharges something)

saltation ((geology) the leaping movement of sand or soil particles as they are transported in a fluid medium over an uneven surface)

scattering (the physical process in which particles are deflected haphazardly as a result of collisions)

sericulture (raising silkworms in order to obtain raw silk)

sink ((technology) a process that acts to absorb or remove energy or a substance from a system)

soak; soakage; soaking (the process of becoming softened and saturated as a consequence of being immersed in water (or other liquid))

softening (the process of becoming softer)

sorption (the process in which one substance takes up or holds another (by either absorption or adsorption))

source ((technology) a process by which energy or a substance enters a system)

rigidification; rigidifying; stiffening (the process of becoming stiff or rigid)

stimulation ((physiology) the effect of a stimulus (on nerves or organs etc.))

ecological succession; succession ((ecology) the gradual and orderly process of change in an ecosystem brought about by the progressive replacement of one community by another until a stable climax is established)

natural selection; selection; survival; survival of the fittest (a natural process resulting in the evolution of organisms best adapted to the environment)

synergism; synergy (the working together of two things (muscles or drugs for example) to produce an effect greater than the sum of their individual effects)

temperature change (a process whereby the degree of hotness of a body (or medium) changes)

transduction (the process whereby a transducer accepts energy in one form and gives back related energy in a different form)

transpiration (the passage of gases through fine tubes because of differences in pressure or temperature)

vitrification (the process of becoming vitreous)

Sense 10

Meaning:

The state of being active

Example:

he is out of action

Synonyms:

action; activeness; activity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("action" is a kind of...):

state (the way something is with respect to its main attributes)

Attribute:

active ((of e.g. volcanos) erupting or liable to erupt)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "action"):

agency (the state of being in action or exerting power)

busyness; hum (the state of being or appearing to be actively engaged in an activity)

behavior; behaviour (the action or reaction of something (as a machine or substance) under specified circumstances)

eructation; eruption; extravasation ((of volcanos) pouring out fumes or lava (or a deposit so formed))

operation (the state of being in effect or being operative)

overdrive (the state of high or excessive activity or productivity or concentration)

play (a state in which action is feasible)

swing (a state of steady vigorous action that is characteristic of an activity)

Antonym:

inaction (the state of being inactive)

Derivation:

act (perform an action, or work out or perform (an action))

act (be engaged in an activity, often for no particular purpose other than pleasure)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Put in effect

Example:

He actioned the operation

Synonyms:

accomplish; action; carry out; carry through; execute; fulfil; fulfill

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "action" is one way to...):

complete; finish (come or bring to a finish or an end)

effect; effectuate; set up (produce)

Verb group:

carry out; follow out; follow through; follow up; go through with; implement; put through (pursue to a conclusion or bring to a successful issue)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "action"):

get over (to bring (a necessary but unpleasant task) to an end)

run (carry out)

consummate (make perfect; bring to perfection)

consummate (fulfill sexually)

do; perform (get (something) done)

complete; discharge; dispatch (complete or carry out)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Institute legal proceedings against; file a suit against

Example:

She actioned the company for discrimination

Synonyms:

action; litigate; process; sue

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "action" is one way to...):

challenge (issue a challenge to)

Verb group:

litigate (engage in legal proceedings)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "action"):

expedite (process fast and efficiently)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

action (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)

actionable (affording grounds for legal action)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Contagious yawning is triggered involuntarily when we observe another person yawn -it is a common form of echophenomena- the automatic imitation of another's words (echolalia) or actions (echopraxia).

(Why Is Yawning so Contagious?, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The Review on Antimicrobial Resistance report predicted this will reach 10 million deaths a year by 2050 if no action is taken now.

(Toothpaste and Hand Wash Are Causing Antibiotic Resistance, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

When used in toothpaste, triclosan prevents the build-up of plaque bacteria by inhibiting the action of an enzyme known as enoyl reductase (ENR), which is involved in the production of fatty acids.

(Toothpaste ingredient may help fight drug-resistant malaria, University of Cambridge)

But my action angered the Wicked Witch of the East, for she had promised the old woman I should not marry the pretty Munchkin girl.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

We can’t command our love, but we can our actions.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I have no desire to make mysteries, but it is impossible at the moment of action to enter into long and complex explanations.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This water squirted out from under his feet at every step, and each time he lifted a foot the action culminated in a sucking sound as the wet moss reluctantly released its grip.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Now it bound him with insentient fetters, walling his soul in darkness and silence, blocking it from the world which to him had been a riot of action.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

After throwing down your paper, which was the action which drew my attention to you, you sat for half a minute with a vacant expression.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

To make sure that RIPK1 action does not initiate inflammation and cell death in all cells, another protein “cuts” the RIPK1 protein at a specific location in the protein sequence.

(Researchers discover new autoinflammatory disease and uncover its biological cause, National Institutes of Health)