action vs work

action

noun
  • The effort of performing or doing something. 

  • Something done, often so as to accomplish a purpose. 

  • A religious performance or solemn function, i.e. action sermon, a sacramental sermon in the Scots Presbyterian Church. 

  • 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. 

  • a process existing in or produced by nature (rather than by the intent of human beings). 

  • A way of motion or functioning. 

  • The way in which a mechanical device acts when used; especially a firearm. 

  • Fast-paced activity. 

  • 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. 

  • The distance separating the strings and the fretboard on a guitar or other string instrument. 

  • A charge or other process in a law court (also called lawsuit and actio). 

  • 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 attitude or position of the several parts of the body as expressive of the sentiment or passion depicted. 

  • Sexual intercourse. 

  • Combat. 

  • spin put on the bowling ball. 

  • The product of energy and time, especially the product of the Lagrangian and time. 

  • The way in which cartridges are loaded, locked, and extracted from the mechanism. 

verb
  • To act on a request etc, in order to put it into effect. 

adj
  • arrogant 

intj
  • Demanding or signifying the start of something, usually a performance. 

work

noun
  • effort expended on a particular task. 

  • The staging of events to appear as real. 

  • The result of a particular manner of production. 

  • Sustained effort to overcome obstacles and achieve a result. 

  • The equipment needed to inject a drug (syringes, needles, swabs etc.) 

  • Ore before it is dressed. 

  • A measure of energy expended in moving an object; most commonly, force times distance. No work is done if the object does not move. 

  • Something produced using the specified material or tool. 

  • One's employer. 

  • Something on which effort is expended. 

  • The place where one is employed. 

  • A fortification. 

  • A measure of energy that is usefully extracted from a process. 

  • A literary, artistic, or intellectual production. 

  • labour, occupation, job. 

verb
  • To embroider with thread. 

  • To cause to ferment. 

  • To function correctly; to act as intended; to achieve the goal designed for. 

  • To shape, form, or improve a material. 

  • Followed by with. General use, said of either fellow employees or instruments or clients. 

  • To cause to happen or to occur as a consequence. 

  • To pull off; to wear, perform, etc. successfully or to advantage. 

  • Followed by as. Said of one's job title 

  • To behave in a certain way when handled 

  • To exhaust, by working. 

  • Followed by in (or at, etc.) Said of one's workplace (building), or one's department, or one's trade (sphere of business). 

  • To ferment. 

  • To set into action. 

  • Followed by for. Said of a company or individual who employs. 

  • To use or manipulate to one’s advantage. 

  • To provoke or excite; to influence. 

  • To operate in a certain place, area, or speciality. 

  • To cause to work. 

  • To effect by gradual degrees; 

  • To influence. 

  • To move in an agitated manner. 

  • To cause (someone) to feel (something); to do unto somebody (something, whether good or bad). 

  • To do a specific task by employing physical or mental powers. 

  • To effect by gradual degrees. 

  • To operate in or through; as, to work the phones. 

How often have the words action and work occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )