(~s, ~ing ~ed)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
Action is doing something for a particular purpose.
The government is taking emergency ~ to deal with a housing crisis...
N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp
2.
An ~ is something that you do on a particular occasion.
Jack was the sort of man who did not like his ~s questioned.
N-COUNT
3.
To bring a legal ~ against someone means to bring a case against them in a court of law. (LEGAL)
Two leading law firms are to prepare legal ~s against tobacco companies.
= suit, case
N-COUNT
4.
The ~ is all the important and exciting things that are happening in a situation. (INFORMAL)
Hollywood is where the ~ is now.
N-SING: the N
5.
The fighting which takes place in a war can be referred to as ~.
Leaders in America have generally supported military ~...
13 soldiers were killed and 10 wounded in ~.
N-UNCOUNT: oft in N
6.
An ~ movie is a film in which a lot of dangerous and exciting things happen. An ~ hero is the main character in one of these films.
ADJ: ADJ n
7.
If you ~ something that needs to be done, you deal with it. (BUSINESS)
Documents can be ~ed, or filed immediately.
VERB: usu passive, be V-ed
8.
If someone or something is out of ~, they are injured or damaged and cannot work or be used.
He’s been out of ~ for 16 months with a serious knee injury...
PHRASE: v-link PHR, PHR after v
9.
If someone wants to have a piece of the ~ or a slice of the ~, they want to take part in an exciting activity or situation, usually in order to make money or become more important.
PHRASE
10.
If you put an idea or policy into ~, you begin to use it or cause it to operate.
They have learned the lessons of business management theory, and put them into ~.
PHRASE: V inflects