action

In law, one of the proceedings whereby a person or agency seeks to enforce rights or redress a wrong in a civil court.

Actions fall into three principal categories, namely civil (such as the enforcement of a debt), criminal (in which a government agency prosecutes a defendant accused of violation of a criminal law), and penal (violation of a law enacted to preserve public order).

action

In music, the internal mechanism of a keyboard instrument, such as the piano, harpsichord, or organ, which links the keys to the strings or pipes when the keys are depressed. On a string instrument, it refers to the space between the strings and the fingerboard.