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Action   /ˈækʃən/   Listen
noun
Action  n.  
1.
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. "One wise in council, one in action brave."
2.
An act; a thing done; a deed; an enterprise. (plural): Habitual deeds; hence, conduct; behavior; demeanor. "The Lord is a Good of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed."
3.
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.
4.
Movement; as, the horse has a spirited action.
5.
(Mech.) Effective motion; also, mechanism; as, the breech action of a gun.
6.
(Physiol.) 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.
7.
(Orat.) Gesticulation; the external deportment of the speaker, or the suiting of his attitude, voice, gestures, and countenance, to the subject, or to the feelings.
8.
(Paint. & Sculp.) The attitude or position of the several parts of the body as expressive of the sentiment or passion depicted.
9.
(Law)
(a)
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.
(b)
A right of action; as, the law gives an action for every claim.
10.
(Com.) A share in the capital stock of a joint-stock company, or in the public funds; hence, in the plural, equivalent to stocks. (A Gallicism) (Obs.) "The Euripus of funds and actions."
11.
An engagement between troops in war, whether on land or water; a battle; a fight; as, a general action, a partial action.
12.
(Music) 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.
Chose in action. (Law) See Chose.
Quantity of action (Physics), the product of the mass of a body by the space it runs through, and its velocity.
Synonyms: Action, Act. In many cases action and act are synonymous; but some distinction is observable. Action involves the mode or process of acting, and is usually viewed as occupying some time in doing. Act has more reference to the effect, or the operation as complete. "To poke the fire is an act, to reconcile friends who have quarreled is a praiseworthy action."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Action" Quotes from Famous Books



... bitter sense of his own wrongdoing, expiated long since by suffering, but never forgiven, and to make him happy with even the briefest news of her life in the new world to which she had gone away. 'In writing one word to me,' so Sanin ended his letter, 'you will be doing a good action worthy of your noble soul, and I shall thank you to my last breath. I am stopping here at the White Swan (he underlined those words) and shall wait, wait till spring, ...
— The Torrents of Spring • Ivan Turgenev
... had a mind to throw myself into the sea and make an end of my troubles forever. But the thought came to me that such an action would not be noble, so I hid my head in my mantle and lay down in the bottom of the ship while the violent winds and towering waves drove us back to the island we had left. We landed there again, and, having partaken of some food and wine, I sought ...
— Odysseus, the Hero of Ithaca - Adapted from the Third Book of the Primary Schools of Athens, Greece • Homer
... monster seemed bent on revenge, and in another instant would be upon us. We then saw our danger, and quicker than a flash of light, thought and action came. The next moment the gigantic saurian was made to struggle on his back with a bullet in his brain. It had entered his right eye, and had been aimed so nicely as ...
— Four Months in a Sneak-Box • Nathaniel H. Bishop
... impulsive in every thought and action, sprang to the ground as Zoroaster finished speaking, and coming to him, took both his hands and kissed him on ...
— Marzio's Crucifix and Zoroaster • F. Marion Crawford
... Wordie secured several large lumps of biotite granite. While the 'Endurance' was being held slow ahead against the berg a loud crack was heard, and the geologist had to scramble aboard at once. The bands on this berg were particularly well defined; they were due to morainic action in the parent glacier. Later in the day the easterly wind increased to a gale. Fragments of floe drifted past at about two knots, and the pack to leeward began to break up fast. A low berg of shallow draught drove down into the grinding pack and, smashing against two larger stranded ...
— South! • Sir Ernest Shackleton


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