| action | | |
| n. (act) | 1. action | something done (usually as opposed to something said).; "there were stories of murders and other unnatural actions" |
| ~ human action, human activity, act, deed | something that people do or cause to happen. |
| ~ thing | an action.; "how could you do such a thing?" |
| ~ benignity, kindness | a kind act. |
| ~ accomplishment, achievement | the action of accomplishing something. |
| ~ alienation | the action of alienating; the action of causing to become unfriendly.; "his behavior alienated the other students" |
| ~ application | the action of putting something into operation.; "the application of maximum thrust"; "massage has far-reaching medical applications"; "the application of indexes to tables of data" |
| ~ res gestae | things done. |
| ~ course of action, course | a mode of action.; "if you persist in that course you will surely fail"; "once a nation is embarked on a course of action it becomes extremely difficult for any retraction to take place" |
| ~ 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. |
| ~ swordplay, play | the act using a sword (or other weapon) vigorously and skillfully. |
| ~ arrival | the act of arriving at a certain place.; "they awaited her arrival" |
| ~ carrying into action, carrying out, execution, performance | the act of performing; of doing something successfully; using knowledge as distinguished from merely possessing it.; "they criticised his performance as mayor"; "experience generally improves performance" |
| ~ selection, choice, option, pick | the act of choosing or selecting.; "your choice of colors was unfortunate"; "you can take your pick" |
| ~ change | the action of changing something.; "the change of government had no impact on the economy"; "his change on abortion cost him the election" |
| ~ saving, economy | an act of economizing; reduction in cost.; "it was a small economy to walk to work every day"; "there was a saving of 50 cents" |
| ~ forbiddance, inhibition, prohibition | the action of prohibiting or inhibiting or forbidding (or an instance thereof).; "they were restrained by a prohibition in their charter"; "a medical inhibition of alcoholic beverages"; "he ignored his parents' forbiddance" |
| ~ opposition, resistance | the action of opposing something that you disapprove or disagree with.; "he encountered a general feeling of resistance from many citizens"; "despite opposition from the newspapers he went ahead" |
| ~ 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.; "the pickings were easy"; "clothing could be had for the taking" |
| ~ 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.; "reference to an encyclopedia produced the answer" |
| ~ accenting, emphasizing, accentuation | 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.; "my battery was dead so I had to get a jumpstart from my neighbor" |
| ~ stupefaction | the action of stupefying; making dull or lethargic.; "the professor was noted for his stupefaction of the students" |
| ~ vampirism | the actions or practices of a vampire. |
| n. (state) | 2. action, activeness, activity | the state of being active.; "his sphere of activity"; "he is out of action" |
| ~ state | the way something is with respect to its main attributes.; "the current state of knowledge"; "his state of health"; "in a weak financial state" |
| ~ agency | the state of being in action or exerting power.; "the agency of providence"; "she has free agency" |
| ~ busyness, hum | the state of being or appearing to be actively engaged in an activity.; "they manifested all the busyness of a pack of beavers"; "there is a constant hum of military preparation" |
| ~ behaviour, behavior | the action or reaction of something (as a machine or substance) under specified circumstances.; "the behavior of small particles can be studied in experiments" |
| ~ eructation, extravasation, eruption | (of volcanos) pouring out fumes or lava (or a deposit so formed). |
| ~ operation | the state of being in effect or being operative.; "that rule is no longer in operation" |
| ~ overdrive | the state of high or excessive activity or productivity or concentration.; "Troops are ready to go into overdrive as soon as the signal is given"; "Melissa's brain was in overdrive" |
| ~ play | a state in which action is feasible.; "the ball was still in play"; "insiders said the company's stock was in play" |
| ~ swing | a state of steady vigorous action that is characteristic of an activity.; "the party went with a swing"; "it took time to get into the swing of things" |
| n. (act) | 3. action, military action | a military engagement.; "he saw action in Korea" |
| ~ amphibious landing | a military action of coordinated land, sea, and air forces organized for an invasion.; "MacArthur staged a massive amphibious landing behind enemy lines" |
| ~ battle, engagement, fight, conflict | a hostile meeting of opposing military forces in the course of a war.; "Grant won a decisive victory in the battle of Chickamauga"; "he lost his romantic ideas about war when he got into a real engagement" |
| ~ blockade, encirclement | a war measure that isolates some area of importance to the enemy. |
| ~ defense, defensive measure, defence | (military) military action or resources protecting a country against potential enemies.; "they died in the defense of Stalingrad"; "they were developed for the defense program" |
| ~ 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.; "the enemy offered little resistance" |
| ~ saber rattling, sabre rattling | the ostentatious display of military power (with the implied threat that it might be used). |
| ~ sortie, sally | a military action in which besieged troops burst forth from their position. |
| ~ war, warfare | the waging of armed conflict against an enemy.; "thousands of people were killed in the war" |
| ~ group action | action taken by a group of people. |
| ~ armed forces, armed services, military, military machine, war machine | the military forces of a nation.; "their military is the largest in the region"; "the military machine is the same one we faced in 1991 but now it is weaker" |
| n. (process) | 4. action, activity, natural action, natural process | a process existing in or produced by nature (rather than by the intent of human beings).; "the action of natural forces"; "volcanic activity" |
| ~ physical process, process | a sustained phenomenon or one marked by gradual changes through a series of states.; "events now in process"; "the process of calcification begins later for boys than for girls" |
| ~ 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.; "the absorption of photons by atoms or molecules" |
| ~ 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).; "the aeration of the soil" |
| ~ 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. |
| ~ dissolution, disintegration | 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.; "the formation of gas in the intestine"; "the formation of crystals"; "the formation of pseudopods" |
| ~ 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, solidification, solidifying, hardening, set | the process of becoming hard or solid by cooling or drying or crystallization.; "the hardening of concrete"; "he tested the set of the glue" |
| ~ inactivation | the process of rendering inactive.; "the gene inactivation system"; "thermal inactivation of serum samples" |
| ~ 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.; "the materialization of her dream" |
| ~ 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.; "the oxygenation of the blood" |
| ~ 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.; "there was a sudden release of oxygen"; "the release of iodine from the thyroid gland" |
| ~ 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.; "the ocean is a sink for carbon dioxide" |
| ~ soak, soakage, soaking | the process of becoming softened and saturated as a consequence of being immersed in water (or other liquid).; "a good soak put life back in the wagon" |
| ~ softening | the process of becoming softer.; "refrigeration delayed the softening of the fruit"; "he observed the softening of iron by heat" |
| ~ 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.; "a heat source"; "a source of carbon dioxide" |
| ~ 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, survival of the fittest, survival, selection | 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.; "the transduction of acoustic waves into voltages by a microphone" |
| ~ transpiration | the passage of gases through fine tubes because of differences in pressure or temperature. |
| ~ vitrification | the process of becoming vitreous. |
| n. (communication) | 5. action | the series of events that form a plot.; "his novels always have a lot of action" |
| ~ plot | the story that is told in a novel or play or movie etc..; "the characters were well drawn but the plot was banal" |
| n. (attribute) | 6. action | the trait of being active and energetic and forceful.; "a man of action" |
| ~ drive | the trait of being highly motivated.; "his drive and energy exhausted his co-workers" |
| n. (artifact) | 7. action, action mechanism | the operating part that transmits power to a mechanism.; "the piano had a very stiff action" |
| ~ gun | a weapon that discharges a missile at high velocity (especially from a metal tube or barrel). |
| ~ firing mechanism, gunlock | the action that ignites the charge in a firearm. |
| ~ key | a lever (as in a keyboard) that actuates a mechanism when depressed. |
| ~ keyboard | device consisting of a set of keys on a piano or organ or typewriter or typesetting machine or computer or the like. |
| ~ mechanism | device consisting of a piece of machinery; has moving parts that perform some function. |
| ~ movement | the driving and regulating parts of a mechanism (as of a watch or clock).; "it was an expensive watch with a diamond movement" |
| ~ 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. |
| n. (act) | 8. action, action at law, legal 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. |
| ~ 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. |
| ~ legal proceeding, proceeding, proceedings | (law) the institution of a sequence of steps by which legal judgments are invoked. |
| ~ 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. |
| ~ law, jurisprudence | the collection of rules imposed by authority.; "civilization presupposes respect for the law"; "the great problem for jurisprudence to allow freedom while enforcing order" |
| n. (act) | 9. 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" |
| ~ group action | action taken by a group of people. |
| n. (act) | 10. action | 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" |
| ~ work | activity directed toward making or doing something.; "she checked several points needing further work" |
| v. (social) | 11. action, litigate, process, sue | institute legal proceedings against; file a suit against.; "He was warned that the district attorney would process him"; "She actioned the company for discrimination" |
| ~ challenge | issue a challenge to.; "Fischer challenged Spassky to a match" |
| ~ expedite | process fast and efficiently.; "I will try to expedite the matter" |
| ~ litigate | engage in legal proceedings. |
| v. (creation) | 12. accomplish, action, carry out, carry through, execute, fulfil, fulfill | put in effect.; "carry out a task"; "execute the decision of the people"; "He actioned the operation" |
| ~ complete, finish | come or bring to a finish or an end.; "He finished the dishes"; "She completed the requirements for her Master's Degree"; "The fastest runner finished the race in just over 2 hours; others finished in over 4 hours" |
| ~ follow out, follow up, put through, carry out, follow through, implement, go through | pursue to a conclusion or bring to a successful issue.; "Did he go through with the treatment?"; "He implemented a new economic plan"; "She followed up his recommendations with a written proposal" |
| ~ get over | to bring (a necessary but unpleasant task) to an end.; "Let's get this job over with"; "It's a question of getting over an unpleasant task" |
| ~ run | carry out.; "run an errand" |
| ~ consummate | make perfect; bring to perfection. |
| ~ consummate | fulfill sexually.; "consummate a marriage" |
| ~ effect, effectuate, set up | produce.; "The scientists set up a shock wave" |
| ~ do, perform | get (something) done.; "I did my job" |
| ~ discharge, dispatch, complete | complete or carry out.; "discharge one's duties" |
Recent comments
3 weeks 5 days ago
7 weeks 6 days ago
9 weeks 2 days ago
24 weeks 4 days ago
24 weeks 4 days ago
24 weeks 4 days ago
25 weeks 2 days ago
29 weeks 3 days ago
30 weeks 2 days ago
31 weeks 1 day ago