Meanings
plural direct actions
- euphemisticuncountableusuallycommunismA form of political activism in which participants act illegally, ignoring established democratic procedures. It may take the form of strikes, workplace occupations, sabotage, sit-ins, squatting, revolutionary/guerrilla warfare, demonstrations, vandalism or graffiti.
It should be easy enough to see why anarchists have always been drawn to direct action.
2009, David Graeber, Direct Action: An Ethnography, AK Press, →ISBN, page 2031 more example
Or there are those who believe that in general the wisest way for people to get what they want is by the indirect method of voting into power some one who will make what they want legal; yet who all the same will occasionally under exceptional conditions advise a strike; and a strike, as I have said, is direct action.
1912, Voltairine de Cleyre, Direct Action - uncountableusuallygovernmentSmall-scale raids, ambushes, sabotage, etc. carried out by the military.
Translations
Basque ekintza zuzena
- ekintza zuzenaform of activism
Finnish suora toiminta
- suora toimintaform of activism
French action directe
- action directeform of activism
German direkte Aktion
- direkte Aktionform of activism
Italian azione diretta
- azione direttaform of activism
Spanish acción directa
- acción directaform of activism
Cite this entry
direct action. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/direct%20action
“direct action.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/direct%20action. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “direct action,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/direct%20action.
Source: direct action on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.