inaction

See also: in action

English

Etymology

From French inaction.

Morphologically in- +‎ action.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈækʃən/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

inaction (countable and uncountable, plural inactions)

1. Lack of action or activity or labor

   Synonyms: idleness, rest, inertness, inertia

   Antonym: action

   • 2024 March 20, Christian Wolmar, “NAO report highlights lack of clarity and purpose”, in RAIL, number 1005, page 35:

     Hmm, yes, 'negotiations' is an interesting choice of words given that ministers have steadfastly refused to meet the unions for the past year; a clear case of industrial inaction.

Related terms

• inactive
• inactively
• inactivity
• pseudo-activity
• ineffectiveness

Translations

lack of action or activity

• Armenian: անգործություն (angorcutʿyun)
• Belarusian: бяздзе́йнасць f (bjazdzjéjnascʹ), нячы́ннасць f (njačýnnascʹ), бясчы́ннасць f (bjasčýnnascʹ)
• Bulgarian: безде́йствие (bg) n (bezdéjstvie)
• Catalan: inacció (ca) f
• Czech: nečinnost f
• Esperanto: senagado
• Finnish: toimettomuus (fi)
• French: inaction (fr) f
• German: Untätigkeit (de) f, Tatenlosigkeit (de) f, Trägheit (de) f, Nichtstun (de) n
• Greek: αδράνεια (el) f (adráneia), απραξία (el) f (apraxía)

  Ancient: ἀπραξία f (apraxía)

• Hungarian: tétlenség (hu)
• Italian: inazione (it) f
• Polish: bezczynność (pl) f
• Portuguese: inação (pt) f
• Romanian: inacțiune (ro) f
• Russian: безде́йствие (ru) n (bezdéjstvije)
• Slovak: nečinnosť f
• Slovene: nedejavnost f, nedelavnost f
• Spanish: inacción (es) f
• Swedish: overksamhet (sv) c
• Ukrainian: бездія́льність (uk) f (bezdijálʹnistʹ), безчи́нність (uk) f (bezčýnnistʹ)

References

• “inaction”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “inaction”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• aconitin, intonaci, nicotian

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /i.nak.sjɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

inaction f (plural inactions)

1. inactivity

Descendants

• Russian: безде́йствие (bezdéjstvije), безде́ятельность (bezdéjatelʹnostʹ) (calques)

Further reading

• “inaction”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.