noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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UK:/kəʊˈakʃən/
US:/koʊˈækʃən/
1
noun
Meaning 1
Force; compulsion, either in restraining or impelling
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
Examples
November 9, 1662, Robert South, Of the Creation of Man in the Image of God It had the passions in perfect subjection; and though its command over them was persuasive and political, yet it had the force of coaction, and despotical.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
Collective or collaborative action.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
The mapped version of an action to a cogroup.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Topics: mathematics, sciences
Examples
actions and coactions of measured groupoids on von Neumann algebras
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
noun
Meaning 4
act of working jointly
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
they worked either in collaboration or independently
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: collaboration
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: cooperation
History
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English coaccioun, from Latin coāctiō.
From co- + action.
Across languages
Translations
2 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Spanish:
coacción
— force; compulsion, either in restraining or impelling