direct action

noun

: action that seeks to achieve an end directly and by the most immediately effective means (such as a boycott or strike)

Examples of direct action in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Witnesses say police were circling in their vehicles but not taking direct action. —Ross O'Keefe, The Washington Examiner, 5 July 2025

Opinion: Tennessee has long been a battleground for courageous, strategic, and non-violent direct action – from the Clinton 12 to the 1960 Nashville sit-ins. —Laura L. Davis, The Tennessean, 2 July 2025

Subscribe here or using the box below: President Trump has bought more time to make a decision on U.S. military intervention in Iran, capping off a whirlwind week that saw his administration approach the brink of direct action before hitting pause. —Alexis Simendinger, The Hill, 20 June 2025

The latter can help by alerting users when their passwords have been exposed online, hopefully enabling them to take direct action and update their account logins if the password has been reused across services. —Davey Winder, Forbes.com, 20 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1912, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for direct action

• benefaction
• counteraction
• interaction
• liquefaction
• putrefaction
• rarefaction
• satisfaction
• stupefaction
• tumefaction
• abstraction
• attraction
• compaction

Legal Definition

direct action

noun

1

: an action in which the plaintiff sues a person's insurer without first obtaining a judgment against the insured or joining the insured

2

: a suit by a shareholder for an injury to himself or herself independent from any injury to the corporation

called also individual action

compare derivative action