action

Definition of action

noun:

• something done (usually as opposed to something said); "there were stories of murders and other unnatural actions".
• the state of being active; "his sphere of activity", "he is out of action". Synonyms: activeness, activity. Antonyms: inaction, inactiveness, inactivity.
• a military engagement; "he saw action in Korea". Synonyms: military action.
• a process existing in or produced by nature (rather than by the intent of human beings); "the action of natural forces", "volcanic activity". Synonyms: activity, natural action, natural process.
• the series of events that form a plot; "his novels always have a lot of action".
• the trait of being active and energetic and forceful; "a man of action".
• the operating part that transmits power to a mechanism; "the piano had a very stiff action". Synonyms: action mechanism.
• 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 at law, legal action.
• 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".
• 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".

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". Synonyms: litigate, process, sue.
• put in effect; "carry out a task", "execute the decision of the people", "He actioned the operation". Synonyms: accomplish, carry out, carry through, execute, fulfil, fulfill.

Related words

absorption, accenting, accentuation, accomplishment, achievement, acidification, aeration, agency, aggression, alienation, application, arrival, battle, beatification, behavior, behaviour, benignity, blockade, bruxism, busyness, capture, cataphoresis, centrifugation, change, choice, chromatography, civility, clotting, coagulation, complete, concretion, condensation, conflict, consultation, consummate, convection, counterclaim, course, curdling, curing, decay, defence, defense, demagnetisation, demagnetization, desorption, destabilisation, destabilization, dielectrolysis, diffusion, discharge, disintegration, dispatch, dissolution, distillation, distillment, do, drift, ecesis, economy, effervescence, electrophoresis, emphasizing, employment, encirclement, engagement, eructation, eruption, establishment, execution, expedite, extinction, extraction, extravasation, feedback, fetch, fight, filtration, flocculation, flow, forbiddance, formation, fossilisation, fossilization, gunlock, hardening, hostility, hum, inactivation, inhibition, interaction, ionisation, ionization, ionophoresis, jumpstart, kindness, leach, leaching, magnetisation, magnetization, materialisation, materialization, movement, opacification, operation, opposition, option, oscillation, overdrive, oxygenation, perform, performance, pick, pickings, play, playing, politeness, prohibition, prosecution, radiation, reference, release, resistance, reverence, rigidification, rigidifying, run, sally, saltation, saving, scattering, selection, sericulture, set, sink, soak, soakage, soaking, softening, solidification, solidifying, sorption, sortie, source, stiffening, stimulation, stupefaction, succession, survival, swing, swordplay, synergism, synergy, taking, thing, transduction, transfusion, transgression, transpiration, vampirism, vitrification, war, warfare.

Words nearby action

actin, actinon, auction, faction.

Rhymes with action

abstraction, attraction, contraction, diffraction, dissatisfaction, distraction, exaction, extraction, faction, fraction, inaction, infraction, interaction, interaction, liquefaction, reaction, retraction, satisfaction, satisfaction, subtraction.

Start with action

actionable, actioner, actions, actionably, actionless, actioners.

End with action

semiabstraction, nonaction, counteraction, distraction, stupefaction, counterreaction, interaction, protraction, benefaction, extraction, overextraction, refraction, faction, abstraction, impaction, abreaction, proaction, detraction, subtraction, dissatisfaction, contraction, exaction, olfaction, attraction, fraction, malefaction, overreaction, coaction, paction, liquefaction, traction, transaction, overaction, reaction, tumefaction, petrifaction, retroaction, diffraction, rarefaction, redaction, and 8 more.