different between act vs action

English

Etymology

From Middle English acte, from Old French acte, from Latin ?cta (“register of events”), plural of ?ctum (“decree, law”), from ag? (“put in motion”). Compare German Akte (“file”). Partially displaced deed, from Old English d?d (“act, deed”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ækt/
• (AAVE) IPA^(key): /æk/
• Rhymes: -ækt

Noun

act (countable and uncountable, plural acts)

1. (countable) Something done, a deed.
   • 1798, William Wordsworth, Lines

     That best portion of a good man's life, / His little, nameless, unremembered acts / Of kindness and of love.

2. (obsolete, uncountable) Actuality.
   • 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie

     The seeds of plants are not at first in act, but in possibility, what they afterward grow to be.

3. (theology) Something done once and for all, as distinguished from a work.
4. (countable) A product of a legislative body, a statute.
5. The process of doing something.

6. (countable) A formal or official record of something done.
7. (countable, drama) A division of a theatrical performance.

8. (countable) A performer or performers in a show.

9. (countable) Any organized activity.
10. (countable) A display of behaviour.
11. A thesis maintained in public, in some English universities, by a candidate for a degree, or to show the proficiency of a student.
12. (countable) A display of behaviour meant to deceive.

    to put on an act

Synonyms

• (something done): deed; see also Thesaurus:action
• (product of a legislative body): statute
• (display of behavior): pretense

Meronyms

• (drama): scene

Holonyms

• (drama): play

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

act (third-person singular simple present acts, present participle acting, simple past and past participle acted)

1. (intransitive) To do something.

2. (obsolete, transitive) To do (something); to perform.
   • 1650, Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living, Purity of Intention

     that we act our temporal affairs with a desire no greater than our necessity

   • a. 1677, Isaac Barrow, Of Industry in General (sermon)

     Industry doth beget by producing good habits, and facility of acting things expedient for us to do.

   • 1782, William Cowper, Expostulation

     Uplifted hands that at convenient times / Could act extortion and the worst of crimes.

3. (intransitive) To perform a theatrical role.

4. (intransitive) Of a play: to be acted out (well or badly).
5. (intransitive) To behave in a certain manner for an indefinite length of time.

6. (copulative) To convey an appearance of being.

7. (intransitive) To do something that causes a change binding on the doer.

8. (intransitive, construed with on or upon) To have an effect (on).

9. (transitive) To play (a role).

10. (transitive) To feign.

    • With acted fear the villain thus pursued.

11. (mathematics, intransitive, construed with on or upon, of a group) To map via a homomorphism to a group of automorphisms (of).

12. (obsolete, transitive) To move to action; to actuate; to animate.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

• ATC, CAT, CTA, Cat, TAC, TCA, cat, tac

Middle English

Noun

act

1. Alternative form of acte

Old Irish

Conjunction

act

1. Alternative spelling of acht (“but”)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French acte, from Latin actus.

Noun

act n (plural acte)

1. act, deed, action

Related terms

• ac?iune

See also

• fapt, fapt?
• lucru

Further reading

• act in DEX online - Dic?ionare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)

Scots

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ak(t)/

Noun

act (plural acts)

1. an act

Verb

act (third-person singular present acts, present participle actin, past actit, past participle actit)

1. act
2. enact
3. decree

References

• Eagle, Andy, ed. (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary, Scots Online.

Welsh

Etymology

From English act.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /akt/

Noun

act f (plural actau)

1. act

Derived terms

• Actau'r Apostolion (“Acts of the Apostles”)
• actio (“to act”)
• actor (“actor”)
• actores (“actress”)

Mutation

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present) , “act”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

English

Etymology

From Middle English accion, from Old French aucion,acciun, from Latin ?cti? (“act of doing or making”), from ?ctus, perfect passive participle of ag? (“do, act”), + action suffix -i?; see act.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?æk.??n/
• Rhymes: -æk??n
• Hyphenation: ac?tion

Noun

action (countable and uncountable, plural actions)

1. Something done, often so as to accomplish a purpose.
2. A way of motion or functioning.

3. Fast-paced activity.

4. A mechanism; a moving part or assembly.

5. (music) 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.
6. (music) The distance separating the strings and the fretboard on a guitar.
7. (slang) Sexual intercourse.

8. (military) Combat.

9. (law) A charge or other process in a law court (also called lawsuit and actio).
10. (mathematics) A mapping from a pairing of mathematical objects to one of them, respecting their individual structures. The pairing is typically a Cartesian product or a tensor product. The object that is not part of the output is said to act on the other object. In any given context, action is used as an abbreviation for a more fully named notion, like group action or left group action.
11. (physics) The product of energy and time, especially the product of the Lagrangian and time.
12. 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.
13. (art, painting and sculpture) The attitude or position of the several parts of the body as expressive of the sentiment or passion depicted.
14. (bowling) spin put on the bowling ball.
15. (obsolete) A share in the capital stock of a joint-stock company, or in the public funds.
    • 1751, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, vol. IV, ch. 106:

      So saying he presented him with two actions of above two thousand livres each.

    • 1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France

      the Euripus of funds and actions

Synonyms

• (something done): deed; see also Thesaurus:action

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• ? German: Action
• ? Russian: ???? (ekšn)

Translations

See also

• deed
• Appendix:Collocations of do, have, make, and take

References

• action on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Interjection

action!

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

   Antonym: cut

Translations

Verb

action (third-person singular simple present actions, present participle actioning, simple past and past participle actioned)

1. (transitive, management) To act on a request etc, in order to put it into effect.
2. (transitive, chiefly archaic) To initiate a legal action against someone.

Usage notes

• The verb sense action is rejected by some usage authorities.

References

• OED 2nd edition 1989
• Notes:

Further reading

• action in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• action in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Catino, actino-, atonic, cation, cation-?

French

Etymology

From Old French acciun, aucion, etymologically reconstructed in Middle French to resemble the Latin acti?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ak.sj??/
• Homophone: axion

Noun

action f (plural actions)

1. action, act, deed

2. campaign

3. stock, share

4. (Switzerland) a special offer

Derived terms

Further reading

• “action” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• cation, contai

Interlingua

Noun

action (plural actiones)

1. action

Related terms

• active
• activitate

Middle English

Noun

action

1. Alternative form of accion

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French acciun, aucion, etymologically reconstructed to resemble the Latin acti?.

Noun

action f (plural actions)

1. action; act

Descendants

• French: action

Scots

Etymology

From Middle English accion.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ak???n/

Noun

action (plural actions)

1. action

Verb

action (third-person singular present actions, present participle actionin, past actiont, past participle actiont)

1. to action

References

• Eagle, Andy, ed. (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary, Scots Online.