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Process vs Action - What's the difference?

process | action |

In lang=en terms the difference between process and action

is that process is the act of serving a defendant with a summons or a writ while action is a charge or other process in a law court (also called lawsuit and actio).

As nouns the difference between process and action

is that process is a series of events to produce a result, especially as contrasted to product while action is something done so as to accomplish a purpose.

As verbs the difference between process and action

is that process is to perform a particular process while action is to act on a request etc, in order to put it into effect.

As an interjection action is

demanding or signifying the start of something, usually an act or scene of a theatric performance.

process

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl)

Noun

(es)
  • A series of events to produce a result, especially as contrasted to product.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=September 27, author=Alistair Magowan, work=BBC Sport
    • , title= Bayern Munich 2-0 Man City , passage=But they came up against an impressive force in Bayern, who extended their run to 10 wins on the trot, having scored 28 goals in the process and conceding none.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= T time , passage=Yet in “Through a Latte, Darkly”, a new study of how Starbucks has largely avoided paying tax in Britain, Edward Kleinbard […] shows that current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate what he calls “stateless income”: […]. In Starbucks’s case, the firm has in effect turned the process of making an expensive cup of coffee into intellectual property.}}
    This product of last month's quality standards committee is quite good, even though the process was flawed.
  • (legal) The act of serving a defendant with a summons or a writ.
  • (biology) An outgrowth of tissue or cell.
  • (anatomy) A structure that arises above a surface.
  • (computing) A task or program that is or was executing.
  • (manufacturing) A set of procedures used to produce a product, most commonly in the food and chemical industries.
  • * 1960', Mack Tyner, '''''Process''' Engineering Calculations: Material and Energy Balances'' - Ordinarily a '''process''' plant will use a steam boiler to supply its ' process heat requirements and to drive a steam-turbine generator.
  • * 1987', J. R. Richards, ''Principles of control system design'' in ''Modelling and control of fermentation '''process'''es'' - The words ''plant'' or '''''process''''' infer generally any dynamic system, be it primarily mechanical, electrical, or chemical ' process in nature, and may extend also to include social or economic systems.
  • A path of succession of states through which a system passes.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01
    • , author=Robert L. Dorit , title=Rereading Darwin , volume=100, issue=1, page=23 , magazine= citation , passage=We live our lives in three dimensions for our threescore and ten allotted years. Yet every branch of contemporary science, from statistics to cosmology, alludes to processes that operate on scales outside of human experience: the millisecond and the nanometer, the eon and the light-year.}}
  • (lb) Successive physiological responses to keep or restore health.
    • Derived terms
    * due process * due process of law * due-process * process color, process colour * process hot water * process server * process upset
    Related terms
    * proceed * procedure

    Verb

    (es)
  • To perform a particular process.
    • We have processed the data using our proven techniques, and have come to the following conclusions.
  • To treat with a substance
  • To think an information over, or a concept, in order to assimilate it, and perhaps accept it as valid.

    • Etymology 2

    Verb

    (es)
  • (mostly British) To walk in a procession.

    • Anagrams

    * ----

    action

    English

    (wikipedia action)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Something done so as to accomplish a purpose.
  • A way of motion or functioning.
    • Knead bread with a rocking action .
  • A fast-paced activity.
    • an action movie
  • A mechanism; a moving part or assembly.
    • a rifle action
  • (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.Marshall Cavendish Corporation Growing Up with Science p.1079
  • (slang) sexual intercourse.
    • She gave him some action .
  • The distance separating the strings and the fretboard on the guitar.
  • (military) Combat.
    • He saw some action in the Korean War.
  • (legal) 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.
  • 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.
  • (business, obsolete, a Gallicism) A share in the capital stock of a joint-stock company, or in the public funds.
  • * Burke
    • The Euripus of funds and actions .

    Derived terms

    * actioner * action hero * action item * action man * action movie * action star * actions speak louder than words * direct action * ! * lost in action * missing in action * piece of the action * social action * take action

    Related terms

    * act * agent * agency

    See also

    * deed *

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
  • Demanding or signifying the start of something, usually an act or scene of a theatric performance.
    • The director yelled ‘Action !’ before the camera started rolling.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (management) To act on a request etc, in order to put it into effect.
  • * {{quote-book, year=2004
    • , publisher=Pearson Education , author=Ros Jay, Richard Templar , title=Fast Thinking Manager's Manual , edition=Second edition , chapter=Fast thinking: project , section=Fast Thinking Leader citation , isbn=9780273681052 , page=276 , passage=‘Here, give me the minutes of Monday’s meeting. I’ll action your points for you while you get on and sort out the open day.’}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=2005
    • , publisher=Routledge , author=Fritz Liebreich , title=Britain's Navel and Political Reaction to the Illegal Immigration of Jews to Palestine, 1945-1948 , chapter=The physical confrontation: interception and diversion policies in theory and practice citation , isbn=9780714656373 , page=196 , passage=Violent reactions from the Jewish authorities were expected and difficulties of actioning the new guidelines were foreseen.}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=2007
    • , publisher=The Stationery Office , editor= , author=Great Britain: Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman , title=Tax Credits: Getting it wrong? 5th report session 2006-2007 , chapter=Case study: 11257 , section=Chapter 2: Changes and developments since June 2005 citation , isbn=9780102951172 , page=26 , passage=HMRC said that one reason they had not actioned her appeal was because she had said in her appeal form ‘I am appealing against the overpayment for childcare for 2003-04, 2004-05’, thus implying she was disputing her ‘overpayment’.}}
  • (transitive, chiefly, archaic) To initiate a legal action against someone.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1856
    • , publisher=Stringer & Townsend , author=Thomas Chandler Haliburton , title=The Attaché: or Sam Slick in England , section=Chapter XLVII: The Horse Stealer; or All Trades Have Tricks But Our Own , edition=New Revised Edition citation , page=270 , passage=‘I have no business to settle with you—arrest me, Sir, at your peril and I’ll action you in law for false imprisonment.’}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1844
    • , year_published= , publisher=T. C. Newby , author=Robert Mackenzie Daniel , title=The Grave Digger: A novel by the author of The Scottish Heiress , volume=I , section=Chapter IX: How the Grave-differ entertained a lady citation , pages=189-190 , passage=“Scrip threatened me at first with an action for slander—he spoke of actions to the wrong man though—action! no, no no. I should have actioned him—ha! ha! [...]”}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1871
    • , year_published=2002 , publisher=Oxford University Press US , author=Michael Shermer , quotee=(Alfred Russell Wallace) , title=In Darwin’s shadow: The Life and Science of Alfred Russell Wallace , section=Chapter 10. Heretic Personality citation , isbn=9780195148305 , page=261 , passage=I have actioned him for Libel, but he won’t plead, and says he will make himself bankrupt & won’t pay a penny.}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1996
    • , publisher=Boydell & Brewer , author=Darryl Mark Ogier , title=Reformation and Society in Guernsey , chapter=Discipline: Enforcement , section=Part Two: The Calvinist Regime citation , isbn=9780851156033 , page=148 , passage=In 1589 the Court went so far as to effect a reconciliation between Michel le Petevin and his wife after she actioned him for ill treatment and adultery with their chambermaid.}}

    Usage notes

    * The verb sense (term) is rejected by some usage authorities., page 3

    References

    * OED 2nd edition 1989 * Notes:

    External links

    * *

    Anagrams

    * English words suffixed with -tion ----