man of action

plural men of action

1. set phraseOne who acts or reacts boldly, without hesitation, and often without forethought, especially in situations which are adventurous or dangerous.

   The third was a man of action, a combatant, a bold and impatient executive, breathing fire and steel.

   1909, O. Henry, Roads of Destiny

   3 more examples

   "I have heard that the Scots are good men of war," said Hordle John. "For axemen and for spearmen I have not seen their match," the archer answered. […] "And the French?" asked Alleyne, to whom the archer's light gossip had all the relish that the words of the man of action have for the recluse.

   1891, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 8, in The White Company (fiction)

   The world found out last week who led the daring, destructive noonday air raid on Japan last month[:] […] pugnacious Brigadier General James Harold Doolittle, 45, speed flyer, engineer, scholar and man of action.

   1942 June 1, “Heroes: Jimmy Did It”, in TIME, archived from the original on 28 Jun 2022

   Patrick Leigh Fermor […] was a man of letters but also, like his hero Byron, a man of action—a war hero and a restless adventurer, who even swam the Hellespont when he was 69.

   2017 December 1, Charles McGrath, “Patrick Leigh Fermor: A Life in Letters”, in New York Times (book review), archived from the original on 03 Dec 2017

   Synonyms: doer