What's the difference between action and contrite?

Action


Definition:

  • (n.) A process or condition of acting or moving, as opposed to rest; the doing of something; exertion of power or force, as when one body acts on another; the effect of power exerted on one body by another; agency; activity; operation; as, the action of heat; a man of action.
  • (n.) An act; a thing done; a deed; an enterprise. (pl.): Habitual deeds; hence, conduct; behavior; demeanor.
  • (n.) 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.
  • (n.) Movement; as, the horse has a spirited action.
  • (n.) Effective motion; also, mechanism; as, the breech action of a gun.
  • (n.) Any one of the active processes going on in an organism; the performance of a function; as, the action of the heart, the muscles, or the gastric juice.
  • (n.) Gesticulation; the external deportment of the speaker, or the suiting of his attitude, voice, gestures, and countenance, to the subject, or to the feelings.
  • (n.) The attitude or position of the several parts of the body as expressive of the sentiment or passion depicted.
  • (n.) A suit or process, by which a demand is made of a right in a court of justice; in a broad sense, a judicial proceeding for the enforcement or protection of a right, the redress or prevention of a wrong, or the punishment of a public offense.
  • (n.) A right of action; as, the law gives an action for every claim.
  • (n.) A share in the capital stock of a joint-stock company, or in the public funds; hence, in the plural, equivalent to stocks.
  • (n.) An engagement between troops in war, whether on land or water; a battle; a fight; as, a general action, a partial action.
  • (n.) The mechanical contrivance by means of which the impulse of the player's finger is transmitted to the strings of a pianoforte or to the valve of an organ pipe.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Power urges the security council to "take the kind of credible, binding action warranted."
  • (2) The subcellular distribution of sialyltransferase and its product of action, sialic acid, was investigated in the undifferentiated cells of the rat intestinal crypts and compared with the pattern observed in the differentiated cells present in the surface epithelium.
  • (3) Consensual but rationally weak criteria devised to extract inferences of causality from such results confirm the generic inadequacy of epidemiology in this area, and are unable to provide definitive scientific support to the perceived mandate for public health action.
  • (4) The following is a brief review of the history, mechanism of action, and potential adverse effects of neuromuscular blockers.
  • (5) However, the mechanism of the inhibitory action is still somewhat uncertain.
  • (6) "What has made that worse is the disingenuous way the force has defended their actions.
  • (7) As prolongation of the action potential by TEA facilitates preferentially the hormone release evoked by low (ineffective) frequencies, it is suggested that a frequency-dependent broadening of action potentials which reportedly occurs on neurosecretory neurones may play an important role in the frequency-dependent facilitation of hormone release from the rat neurohypophysis.
  • (8) This was unlike the action of the calcium channel blocker, cadmium, which reduced the calcium action potential and the a.h.p.
  • (9) An initial complex-soma inflection was observed on the rising phase of the action potential of some cells.
  • (10) Most thyroid hormone actions, however, appear in the perinatal period, and infants with thyroid agenesis appear normal at birth and develop normally with prompt neonatal diagnosis and treatment.
  • (11) We are pursuing legal action because there are still so many unanswered questions about the viability of Shenhua’s proposed koala plan and it seems at this point the plan does not guarantee the survival of the estimated 262 koalas currently living where Shenhua wants to put its mine,” said Ranclaud.
  • (12) The evidence suggests that by the age of 15 years many adolescents show a reliable level of competence in metacognitive understanding of decision-making, creative problem-solving, correctness of choice, and commitment to a course of action.
  • (13) The blockade of H2 receptors is the primary action of these drugs; however, they possess also secondary actions which may represent untoward effects but in some cases may be actually useful (increase in prostaglandin synthesis, inhibition of LTB4 synthesis, etc.)
  • (14) It is concluded that in the mouse model the ability of buspirone to reduce the aversive response to a brightly illuminated area may reflect an anxiolytic action, that the dorsal raphe nucleus may be an important locus of action, and that the effects of buspirone may reflect an interaction at 5-hydroxytryptamine receptors.
  • (15) The macrophage-derived product, interleukin 1 (IL 1) is thought to play an important regulatory role in the proliferation of T lymphocytes; however, its mechanism of action is unknown.
  • (16) If there is a will to use primary Care centres for effective preventive action in the population as a whole, motivation of the professionals involved and organisational changes will be necessary so as not to perpetuate the law of inverse care.
  • (17) In oleate-labeled particles, besides phosphatidic acid the product of PLD action radioactivity was also detected in diglyceride as a result of resident phosphatidate phosphohydrolase, which hydrolyzed the phosphatidic acid.
  • (18) Selective removal of endothelium had no effect on BK-induced contraction or the action of the antagonists.
  • (19) When irradiated circular DNA, previously nicked by T4 endonuclease V, is briefly exposed to elevated temperature, the DAN becomes susceptible to the action of exonuclease V, and pyrimidine dimers are selectively released.
  • (20) The reproducibility of the killing-curve method suggests that at least two different concentrations should be used and that a decrease in viable counts below 2 log10 after 24 hours does not exclude a synergistic action.

Contrite


Definition:

  • (a.) Thoroughly bruised or broken.
  • (a.) Broken down with grief and penitence; deeply sorrowful for sin because it is displeasing to God; humbly and thoroughly penitent.
  • (n.) A contrite person.
  • (v.) In a contrite manner.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) This sends the dangerous message that the citizens of the debtor countries need to suffer badly to signal their contrition.
  • (2) "I take complete responsibility and offer nothing but love and contrition and I hope that now Jonathan and the BBC will endure less forensic wrath.
  • (3) Ken Livingstone has delivered a rare public display of contrition, following a backlash over leaked remarks made by him in a private meeting which were interpreted as saying that Jewish voters would not vote for him because they were rich.
  • (4) It's no surprise, then, that displays of contrition over his defeat by Boris Johnson in 2008 have not been a feature of the start of his campaign to take back the mayoralty in 2012.
  • (5) With Oldham Athletic pulling out of a deal to sign the player in the face of pressure from the public and sponsors, Evans’s statement via the Professional Footballers’ Association marks his first act of contrition towards the victim since he walked from prison on licence 83 days ago.
  • (6) It's the first interview he's done since his marriage and divorce and the split-up of the Ordinary Boys, and it all comes rushing out in a spate, a tangle of chronological confusions and jokes, and groans when I quote some of his old interviews back at him, and statements of contrition, and digressions about Dawkins or whatever, and here's the confounding thing - he's really nothing like I was expecting, not indie-boy sulky, or attempting to play it cool, he's just talkative and engaging, and he has a sense of humour about himself that, from reading his previous interviews, I wouldn't have even guessed at.
  • (7) The quartet wrestles its way to the end of Shostakovich's unquiet masterpiece, the reprised Largo with its complex contrition and very adult fears.
  • (8) "He was an unreliable witness and showed little contrition by pointing the finger at many of his former executives.
  • (9) 'Show contrition' said George Osborne's notes – but what did that mean?
  • (10) But Lind will have to decide whether she believes Manning is really contrite, and not merely apologising as a pragmatic bid for a shorter sentence.
  • (11) [Modi's] lack of contrition is outweighed by his rising profile as a possible ministerial candidate.
  • (12) So would anyone looking for an expression of contrition or regret.
  • (13) In a statement that contained little contrition for putting investors, staff and customers through a fruitless two weeks, Duch-Pedersen insisted that shareholders were continuing to "express their overwhelming support for the standalone G4S business and its management".
  • (14) Labour's Margaret Hodge , chair of the public accounts committee said Barlow "might want to show a bit of contrition by giving back his OBE".
  • (15) But Burnham, who has been publicly contrite about the frontbench’s ill-judged refusal to vote against the second reading of the government’s welfare bill at the start of the summer, could now reach out to the left by campaigning vigorously against this legislation.
  • (16) Any settlement should include a formal apology, but contrition alone would not be enough, he said.
  • (17) Donald Trump, on his Republican critics Whether Trump will be capable of showing genuine contrition when he faces Hillary Clinton on the debate stage at Washington University in St Louis on Sunday night remains in doubt.
  • (18) You can see when you speak to him how sorry he is about it and he's certainly shown quite a lot of contrition to us and as part of that, he's also asked we donate the fine to the Hillsborough Family Support Group.
  • (19) Hari is also handing back the George Orwell prize he won as "an act of contrition for the errors I made elsewhere, in my interviews" and will undertake "a programme of journalism training" during his leave of absence.
  • (20) "Despite some of the ways in which things come out as arrogant there are people at the top who are contrite and want to do the right thing," he said.