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action

noun
/ˈæk.ʃən/US/ˈæk.ʃn̩/UK

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti Proto-Italic *agō Latin agō Latin āctum Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *-Hō Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō Proto-Italic *-tiō Latin -tiō Latin āctiō Old French aucionbor. Middle English accioun English action From Middle English accioun, accion, from Old French aucion, acciun, from Latin āctiō(n) (“act of doing or making”), from āct(us) + action suffix -iō(n), perfect passive participle of agere (“do, act”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti. See also act, active. By surface analysis, act + -ion.

  1. derived from *h₂éǵeti✻
  2. derived from āctiō
  3. derived from aucion
  4. inherited from accioun

Definitions

  1. The effort of performing or doing something.

  2. Something done, often so as to accomplish a purpose.

  3. A way of motion or functioning.

    • Knead bread with a rocking action.
  4. ›+ 24 more definitions

    1. Fast-paced activity.

      • a movie full of exciting action

    2. The way in which a mechanical device acts when used

      The way in which a mechanical device acts when used; especially a firearm.

      • Pressing a piano key causes the action of the hammer on the string.

    3. A physical mechanism.

    4. The mechanism, that is the set of moving mechanical parts, of a keyboard instrument, like…

      The mechanism, that is the set of moving mechanical parts, of a keyboard instrument, like a piano, which transfers the motion of the key to the sound-making device.

      • The run in bar 12 is almost impossible with this piano's heavy action.

    5. The distance separating the strings and the fingerboard on a string instrument.

      • You're getting fret buzz because the action is too low.

    6. Sexual intercourse.

      • She gave him some action.
      • I hope to get a bit of action with the hot guy from the club.

    7. Combat.

      • He saw some action in the Korean War.

    8. A charge or other process in a law court (also called lawsuit and actio).

    9. A way in which each element of some algebraic structure transforms some other structure…

      A way in which each element of some algebraic structure transforms some other structure or set, in a way which respects the structure of the first. Formally, this may be seen as a morphism from the first structure into some structure of endomorphisms of the second; for example, a group action of a group G on a set S can be seen as a group homomorphism from G into the set of bijections on S (which form a group under function composition), while a module M over a ring R can be defined as an abelian group together with a ring homomorphism from R into the ring of group endomorphisms of M (which is also called the action of R on M).

    10. The product of energy and time, especially the product of the Lagrangian and time.

    11. The event or connected series of events, either real or imaginary, forming the subject of…

      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.

    12. The attitude or position of the several parts of the body as expressive of the sentiment…

      The attitude or position of the several parts of the body as expressive of the sentiment or passion depicted.

    13. spin put on the bowling ball.

    14. A share in the capital stock of a joint-stock company, or in the public funds.

      • So saying he presented him with two actions of above two thousand livres each.
      • the Euripus of funds and actions

    15. A religious performance or solemn function, i.e. action sermon, a sacramental sermon in…

      A religious performance or solemn function, i.e. action sermon, a sacramental sermon in the Scots Presbyterian Church.

      • The Action Sermon is quite simply, then, the eucharistic sermon.

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

    17. Purposeful behavior.

    18. A demonstration by activists.

    19. The opportunity to act during a betting round.

      • The action starts with the small blind.

    20. Heavy betting activity.

      • There was a lot of action on the flop; it was an action flop.

    21. Demanding or signifying the start of something, usually a performance.

      • The director yelled ‘Action!’ after the cameras started rolling.

    22. arrogant

    23. To act on a request etc, in order to put it into effect.

      • ‘Here, give me the minutes of Monday’s meeting. I’ll action your points for you while you get on and sort out the open day.’
      • Violent reactions from the Jewish authorities were expected and difficulties of actioning the new guidelines were foreseen.
      • HMRC said that one reason they had not actioned her appeal was because she had said in her appeal form ‘I am appealing against the overpayment for childcare for 2003-04, 2004-05’, thus implying she was disputing her ‘overpayment’.

    24. To initiate a legal action against someone.

      • ‘I have no business to settle with you—arrest me, Sir, at your peril and I’ll action you in law for false imprisonment.’
      • “Scrip threatened me at first with an action for slander—he spoke of actions to the wrong man though—action! no, no no. I should have actioned him—ha! ha! [...]”
      • I have actioned him for Libel, but he won’t plead, and says he will make himself bankrupt & won’t pay a penny.

The neighborhood

Derived

actant, actionable, action adventure, actional, action doll, actionee, actioner, actionfest, action figure, action film, action-forcing, action game, action group, action hero, action hoe, action house, actionism, actionist, action item, actionize, actionless, actionlet, actionlike, action man, action movie, actionness, action noun, action-packed, action painter, action painting, action plan, action point, action potential, action replay, action research, ActionScript, action song, action space, action sport, actions speak louder than words · +110 more

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for action. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA