Mawson, C.O.S., ed. (1870–1938). Roget’s International Thesaurus. 1922.
Class V. Words Releasing to the Voluntary PowersDivision (I) Individual Volition
Section III. Voluntary Action
1. Simple Voluntary Action
680. Action.
NOUN:ACTION, performance; doing &c. v.; perpetration; exercise, exercitation; movement, operation, evolution, work, employment; labor (exertion) [See Exertion]; praxis [L.], execution; procedure (conduct) [See Conduct]; handicraft; business [See Business]; agency (power at work) [See Agency].DEED, act, overt act, stitch, touch, gest or geste; transaction, job, doings, dealings, proceeding, measure, step, maneuver or maneuvre, manœuver or manœuvre, bout, passage, move, stroke, blow; coup, – de main, – d’état [F.]; tour de force [F.] (display) [See Ostentation]; feat, exploit; achievement (completion) [See Completion]; handiwork, craftsmanship, workmanship; manufacture; stroke of policy (plan) [See Plan].
ACTOR (doer) [See Agent].
VERB:DO, perform, execute; achieve (complete) [See Completion]; transact, enact; commit, perpetrate, inflict; exercise, prosecute, carry on, work, practice, play.
EMPLOY ONESELF, ply one’s task; officiate, have in hand (business) [See Business]; labor [See Exertion]; be at work; pursue a course; shape one’s course (conduct) [See Conduct].
ACT, operate; take action, take steps; strike a blow, lift a finger, stretch forth one’s hand; take in hand (undertake) [See Undertaking]; put oneself in motion; put in practice; carry into execution (complete) [See Completion]; act upon.
BE AN ACTOR [See Agent]; take -, act -, play -, perform- a part in; participate in; have a -hand in, – finger in the pie; have to do with; be a party to, be a participator in; bear -, lend- a hand; pull an oar, run in a race; mix oneself up with (meddle) [See Activity].
BE IN ACTION; come into operation (power at work) [See Agency].
ADJECTIVE:IN ACTION; doing &c. v.; acting; in harness; up to one’s ears in work; in the midst of things; on duty; at work; operative; in operation [See Agency].
ADVERB:in the -act, – midst of, – thick of; red-handed, in flagrante delicto [L.]; while one’s hand is in; while one is at it.
QUOTATIONS:
- Action is eloquence.—Coriolanus
- Actions speak louder than words.
- Actum ne agas.—Terence
- Awake, arise, or be forever fall’n.—Paradise Lost
- Dii pia facta vident.—Ovid
- Faire sans dire.
- Fare fac.
- Fronte capillata post est occasio calva.
- Our deeds are sometimes better than our thoughts.—Bailey
- We live in deeds not years.—Bailey
- The great end of life is not knowledge but action.—Huxley
- Thought is the soul of act.—R. Browning
- Vivre ce n’est pas respirer c’est agir.
- Our nature is movement; absolute stillness is death.—Pascal