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INACTION
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The state of being inactive
Synonyms:
inaction; inactiveness; inactivity
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("inaction" is a kind of...):
state (the way something is with respect to its main attributes)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "inaction"):
abeyance; suspension (temporary cessation or suspension)
anergy (inactivity and lack of energy)
arrest; check; halt; hitch; stay; stop; stoppage (the state of inactivity following an interruption)
calcification (an inflexible and unchanging state)
deep freeze (temporary inactivity or suspension)
desuetude (a state of inactivity or disuse)
dormancy; quiescence; quiescency (a state of quiet (but possibly temporary) inaction)
extinction (no longer active; extinguished)
holding pattern (a state of inaction with no progress and no change)
rest (a state of inaction)
doldrums; stagnancy; stagnation (a state of inactivity (in business or art etc))
stagnancy; stagnation (inactivity of liquids; being stagnant; standing still; without current or circulation)
stasis (inactivity resulting from a static balance between opposing forces)
Antonym:
action (the state of being active)
Context examples:
Things had indeed been very slow with us, and I had learned to dread such periods of inaction, for I knew by experience that my companion’s brain was so abnormally active that it was dangerous to leave it without material upon which to work.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
