action

1 something done (usually as opposed to something said); "there were stories of murders and other unnatural actions"

2 the state of being active; "his sphere of activity"; "he is out of action" [syn: activity, activeness] [ant: inaction, inaction, inaction]

3 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 [syn: legal action, action at law]

4 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"

5 a military engagement; "he saw action in Korea" [syn: military action]

6 a process existing in or produced by nature (rather than by the intent of human beings); "the action of natural forces"; "volcanic activity" [syn: natural process, natural action, activity]

7 the series of events that form a plot; "his novels always have a lot of action"

8 the operating part that transmits power to a mechanism; "the piano had a very stiff action" [syn: action mechanism]

9 the trait of being active and energetic and forceful; "a man of action"

10 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"

1 institute legal proceedings against; file a suit against; "He was warned that the district attorney would process him"; "She actioned the company for discrimination" [syn: sue, litigate, process]

2 put in effect; "carry out a task"; "execute the decision of the people"; "He actioned the operation" [syn: carry through, accomplish, execute, carry out, fulfill, fulfil]

English

Etymology

From noun of action actio doing or making, from perfect passive participle actus, from verb agere, + action suffix -io.

Pronunciation

• /ˈæk.ʃən/, /"

Music and culture

• Action (philosophy), something a person can do
• Action (music), a characteristic of a stringed instrument
• Action (album), a 2004 album by Punchline
• Action (B'z album), a 2007 album by B'z
• Action (piano), the mechanism which drops the hammer on the string when a key is pressed
• Tracker Action (organ), the mechanism which lets the wind flows trough the pipe when a key is pressed
• Action (Song), former name of the single Feeling This, by the Pop Punk band Blink-182
• The Action, a 1960s band
• Action (radio), a 1945 radio program aka Action Theater
• Action (comic), a British comic book published in 1976-1977
• Action (TV series), a short-lived comedy series that aired on FOX during the 1999-2000 season
• Action painting, a style of painting
• Action genre in various formats, specifically:
  • Action film, a movie genre
  • Action game, a computer/video game genre
• Action (1921 film), a 1921 film directed by John Ford
• Action (newspaper), published by British Union of Fascists

Politics and society

• Collective action, the provision of public goods through collaboration
• Direct action, an instance of political activism
• Social action, which takes into account actions and reactions of other individuals
• Strike action, a deliberate absence from work
• Lawsuit, sometimes called a civil action

Military

• military action (combat) is a scale of combat within the hierarchy of combat of squads, platoons, companies and battalions.
• action (naval) term used to refer to preparing and engaging a ship in combat
• action (signal) signal number 13 'Prepare for Action' in the British Royal Navy since the late 18th century
• action (gunnery) term refers to the movement of the breach in an artillery ordnance piece

Businesses and organizations

• Action (supermarkets), an Australian supermarket chain
• ACTION (Australian Capital Territory Internal Omnibus Network), a public transport company
• ACTION, a former United States government agency
• Action Ambulance, an emergency care and ambulance service

Science and technology

• Action (physics), an assertion about the nature of motion
• Firearm action, a system of operation in a firearm
• Structural load, as referred to in Eurocodes

• Group action in mathematics
• Action (UML), a specific piece of functionality in the Unified Modeling Language
• Action programming language for Atari microcomputers
• Struts Action, a key building block of web applications based on the Apache Struts framework.

Other

• Sexual intercourse