different between action vs force
action
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)
- Something done, often so as to accomplish a purpose.
- A way of motion or functioning.
- Fast-paced activity.
- A mechanism; a moving part or assembly.
- (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.
- (music) The distance separating the strings and the fretboard on a guitar.
- (slang) Sexual intercourse.
- (military) Combat.
- (law) A charge or other process in a law court (also called lawsuit and actio).
- (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.
- (physics) The product of energy and time, especially the product of the Lagrangian and time.
- 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.
- (art, painting and sculpture) The attitude or position of the several parts of the body as expressive of the sentiment or passion depicted.
- (bowling) spin put on the bowling ball.
- (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
- 1751, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, vol. IV, ch. 106:
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!
- 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)
- (transitive, management) To act on a request etc, in order to put it into effect.
- (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)
- action, act, deed
- campaign
- stock, share
- (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)
- action
Related terms
- active
- activitate
Middle English
Noun
action
- Alternative form of accion
Middle French
Etymology
From Old French acciun, aucion, etymologically reconstructed to resemble the Latin acti?.
Noun
action f (plural actions)
- action; act
Descendants
- French: action
Scots
Etymology
From Middle English accion.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ak???n/
Noun
action (plural actions)
- action
Verb
action (third-person singular present actions, present participle actionin, past actiont, past participle actiont)
- to action
References
- Eagle, Andy, ed. (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary, Scots Online.
action From the web:
- what actions characterize authoritarian governments
- what action leads to reapportionment
- what action movie should i watch
- what action minimizes the risk of air
- what are five characteristics of authoritarian governments
force
English
Pronunciation
- (General American) enPR: fôrs, IPA(key): /f??s/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /f??s/
- (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) enPR: f?rs, IPA(key): /fo(?)?s/
- (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA(key): /fo?s/
- Rhymes: -??(?)s
Etymology 1
From Middle English force, fors, forse, from Old French force, from Late Latin or Vulgar Latin *fortia, from neuter plural of Latin fortis (“strong”).
Noun
force (countable and uncountable, plural forces)
- Strength or energy of body or mind; active power; vigour; might; capacity of exercising an influence or producing an effect.
- Power exerted against will or consent; compulsory power; violence; coercion.
- 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, part II
- which now they hold by force, and not by right
- 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, part II
- (countable) Anything that is able to make a substantial change in a person or thing.
- (countable, physics) A physical quantity that denotes ability to push, pull, twist or accelerate a body and which has a direction and is measured in a unit dimensioned in mass × distance/time² (ML/T²): SI: newton (N); CGS: dyne (dyn)
- Something or anything that has the power to produce a physical effect upon something else, such as causing it to move or change shape.
- (countable) A group that aims to attack, control, or constrain.
- 1611, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline
- Is Lucius general of the forces?
- "A fine man, that Dunwody, yonder," commented the young captain, as they parted, and as he turned to his prisoner. "We'll see him on in Washington some day. He is strengthening his forces now against Mr. Benton out there. […]."
- 1611, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline
- (uncountable) The ability to attack, control, or constrain.
- (countable) A magic trick in which the outcome is known to the magician beforehand, especially one involving the apparent free choice of a card by another person.
- (law) Legal validity.
- (law) Either unlawful violence, as in a "forced entry", or lawful compulsion.
- (linguistics, semantics, pragmatics) Ability of an utterance or its element (word, form, prosody, ...) to effect a given meaning.
- (humorous or science fiction, with the, often capitalized) A metaphysical and ubiquitous power from the fictional Star Wars universe created by George Lucas. See usage note. [1977]
- Synonym of police force (“typically with preceding "the"”)
Usage notes
- Adjectives often applied to "force": military, cultural, economic, gravitational, electric, magnetic, strong, weak, positive, negative, attractive, repulsive, good, evil, dark, physical, muscular, spiritual, intellectual, mental, emotional, rotational, tremendous, huge.
- (science fiction): Outside of fiction, the force may be used as an alternative to invoking luck, destiny, or God. For example, the force was with him instead of luck was on his side, or may the force be with you instead of may God be with you.
Hyponyms
Derived terms
- may the Force be with you
- workforce
Related terms
Translations
References
- force on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Etymology 2
From Middle English forcen, from Old French forcer, from Late Latin *forti?re, from Latin fortia.
Verb
force (third-person singular simple present forces, present participle forcing, simple past and past participle forced)
- (transitive) To violate (a woman); to rape. [from 14thc.]
- (obsolete, reflexive, intransitive) To exert oneself, to do one's utmost. [from 14thc.]
- And I pray you for my sake to force yourselff there, that men may speke you worshyp.
- (transitive) To compel (someone or something) to do something. [from 15thc.]
- Captain Edward Carlisle […] felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, […]; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.
- 2011, Tim Webb & Fiona Harvey, The Guardian, 23 March:
- Housebuilders had warned that the higher costs involved would have forced them to build fewer homes and priced many homebuyers out of the market.
- (transitive) To constrain by force; to overcome the limitations or resistance of. [from 16thc.]
- (transitive) To drive (something) by force, to propel (generally + prepositional phrase or adverb). [from 16thc.]
- It stuck so fast, so deeply buried lay / That scarce the victor forced the steel away.
- Ethelbert […] ordered that none should be forced into religion.
- 2007, The Guardian, 4 November:
- In a groundbreaking move, the Pentagon is compensating servicemen seriously hurt when an American tank convoy forced them off the road.
- (transitive) To cause to occur (despite inertia, resistance etc.); to produce through force. [from 16thc.]
- 2009, "All things to Althingi", The Economist, 23 July:
- The second problem is the economy, the shocking state of which has forced the decision to apply to the EU.
- 2009, "All things to Althingi", The Economist, 23 July:
- (transitive) To forcibly open (a door, lock etc.). [from 17thc.]
- To obtain or win by strength; to take by violence or struggle; specifically, to capture by assault; to storm, as a fortress.
- (transitive, baseball) To create an out by touching a base in advance of a runner who has no base to return to while in possession of a ball which has already touched the ground.
- (whist) To compel (an adversary or partner) to trump a trick by leading a suit that he/she does not hold.
- (archaic) To put in force; to cause to be executed; to make binding; to enforce.
- c. 1613, John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi
- What can the church force more?
- c. 1613, John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi
- (archaic) To provide with forces; to reinforce; to strengthen by soldiers; to man; to garrison.
- (obsolete) To allow the force of; to value; to care for.
Derived terms
Translations
See also
- Imperial unit: foot pound
- metric unit: newton
- coerce: To control by force.
Etymology 3
From Middle English force, forz, fors, from Old Norse fors (“waterfall”), from Proto-Germanic *fursaz (“waterfall”). Cognate with Icelandic foss (“waterfall”), Norwegian foss (“waterfall”), Swedish fors (“waterfall”). Doublet of foss.
Noun
force (plural forces)
- (countable, Northern England) A waterfall or cascade.
- 1778, Thomas West, A Guide to the Lakes in Cumberland, Westmorland, and Lancashire
- to see the falls or force of the river Kent
- 1778, Thomas West, A Guide to the Lakes in Cumberland, Westmorland, and Lancashire
Derived terms
- forcefall
Translations
Etymology 4
From Middle English forcen, forsen, a use of force, with confusion of farce (“to stuff”).
Verb
force (third-person singular simple present forces, present participle forcing, simple past and past participle forced)
- To stuff; to lard; to farce.
Derived terms
- forcemeat
Further reading
- force at OneLook Dictionary Search
- force in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- force in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
Anagrams
- Cofer, Corfe, corfe
French
Etymology
From Middle French force, from Old French force, from Late Latin or Vulgar Latin *fortia, re-analyzed as a feminine singular from the neuter plural of Latin fortis. Compare Catalan força, Portuguese força, Italian forza, Spanish fuerza.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /f??s/
- Rhymes: -??s
- Homophones: forcent, forces
Noun
force f (plural forces)
- force
- strength
Synonyms
- pouvoir
- puissance
- violence
Derived terms
Adjective
force (invariable)
- (archaic) Many; a lot of; a great quantity of.
Verb
force
- first/third-person singular present indicative of forcer
- first/third-person singular present subjunctive of forcer
- second-person singular imperative of forcer
Further reading
- “force” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Middle French
Etymology
From Old French force.
Noun
force f (plural forces)
- force (physical effort; physical might)
Descendants
- French: force
Old French
Alternative forms
- forche (Picardy, Old Northern French)
- fors
Etymology
From Late Latin or Vulgar Latin *fortia, re-analyzed as a feminine singular from the neuter plural of Latin fortis.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?f?r.t?s?/
Noun
force f (oblique plural forces, nominative singular force, nominative plural forces)
- strength; might
Related terms
- esforcer
- esfort
- fort
- forteresce
Descendants
- Middle French: force
- French: force
- Walloon: foice
- ? Middle English: force / fors / forse
- English: force
Portuguese
Verb
force
- first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of forçar
- third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of forçar
- third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of forçar
- third-person singular (você) negative imperative of forçar
force From the web:
- what force holds the nucleus together
- what force holds atoms together
- what force makes an airplane turn
- what force is represented by the vector
- what forces hindered italian unity
- what forces formed the alps
- what force was holding the anvil up
- what force works against friction
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