N. business, occupation, employment, pursuit, what one is doing, what one is about, affair, concern, matter, case, matter in hand, irons in the fire, thing to do, agendum, task, work, job, chore, errand, commission, mission, charge, care, duty, part, role, cue, province, function, lookout, department, capacity, sphere, orb, field, line, walk, walk of life, beat, round, routine, race, career, office, place, post, chargeship, incumbency, living, situation, berth, employ, service, engagement, undertaking, vocation, calling, profession, cloth, faculty, industry, art, industrial arts, craft, mystery, handicraft, trade, exercise, work, avocation, press of business

V. pass one's time in, employ one's time in, spend one's time in, employ oneself in, employ oneself upon, occupy oneself with, concern oneself with, make it one's business, undertake, enter a profession, betake oneself to, turn one's hand to, have to do with, office, place, post, chargeship, incumbency, living, situation, berth, employ, service, engagement, undertaking, drive a trade, carry on a trade, do a trade, transact a trade, carry on business, do business, transact business, keep a shop, ply one's task, ply one's trade, labor in one's vocation, pursue the even tenor of one's way, attend to business, attend to one's work, officiate, serve, act, act one's part, play one's part, do duty, serve the office of, discharge the office of, perform the office of, perform the duties of, perform the functions of, hold an office, fill an office, fill a place, fill a situation, hold a portfolio, hold a place, hold a situation, be about, be doing, be engaged in, be employed in, be occupied with, be at work on, have one's hands in, have in hand, have on one's hands, have on one's shoulders, bear the burden, have one's hands full, be in the hands of, be on the stocks, be on the anvil, pass through one's hands

Adj. businesslike, phr, workaday, "a business with an income at its heels", professional, amoto quaeramus seria ludo, official, par negotiis neque supra, functional, busy, on hand, in hand, in one's hands, afoot, on foot, on the anvil, going on, acting

Adv. in the course of business, all in one's day's work, professionally &c

N. instrumentality, aid, subservience, subserviency, mediation, intervention, medium, intermedium, vehicle, hand, agency, minister, handmaid, midwife, accoucheur, accoucheuse, obstetrician, gobetween, cat's-paw, stepping-stone, opener, key, master key, passkey, latchkey, "open sesame", passport, passe-partout, safe-conduct, password, instrument, expedient, means

V. subserve, minister, mediate, intervene, be instrumental, pander to, officiate, tend

Adj. instrumental, useful, ministerial, subservient, mediatorial, intermediate, intervening, conducive

Adv. through, by, per, whereby, thereby, hereby, by the agency of, by dint of, by virtue of, in virtue of, through the medium of, along with, on the shoulders of, by means of, by the aid of, with the aid of, per fas et nefas, by fair means or foul, somehow, somehow or other, by hook or by crook

N. action, performance, doing, &c. v, perpetration, exercise, excitation, movement, operation, evolution, work, labor, praxis, execution, procedure, handicraft, business, agency, deed, act, overt act, stitch, touch, gest transaction, job, doings, dealings, proceeding, measure, step, maneuver, bout, passage, move, stroke, blow, coup, coup de main, coup d'etat, tour de force, feat, exploit, achievement, handiwork, workmanship, manufacture, stroke of policy, actor

V. do, perform, execute, achieve, transact, enact, commit, perpetrate, inflict, exercise, prosecute, carry on, work, practice, play, employ oneself, ply one's task, officiate, have in hand, labor, be at work, pursue a course, shape one's course, act, operate, take action, take steps, strike a blow, lift a finger, stretch forth one's hand, take in hand, put oneself in motion, put in practice, carry into execution, act upon, be an actor, take a part in, act a part in, play a part in, perform a part in, participate in, have a hand in, have a finger in the pie, have to do with, be a party to, be a participator in, bear a hand, lend a hand, pull an oar, run in a race, mix oneself up with, be in action, come into operation

Adj. doing, acting, in action, in harness, on duty, in operation

Adv. in the act, in the midst of, in the thick of, red-handed, in flagrante delicto, while one's hand is in

Phr. "action is eloquence", actions speak louder than words, actum aiunt ne agas, "awake, arise, or be forever fall'n", dii pia facta vident, faire sans dire, fare fac, fronte capillata post est occasio calva, "our deeds are sometimes better than our thoughts", "the great end of life is not knowledge but action", "thought is the soul of act", vivre-ce nest pas respirer c'est agir, "we live in deeds not years"

N. conduct, behavior, deportment, comportment, carriage, maintien, demeanor, guise, bearing, manner, observance, dealing, transaction, business, tactics, game, game plan, policy, polity, generalship, statesmanship, seamanship, strategy, strategics, plan, management, husbandry, housekeeping, housewifery, stewardship, menage, regime, economy, economics, political economy, government, execution, manipulation, treatment, campaign, career, life, course, walk, race, record, course of conduct, line of conduct, line of action, line of proceeding, role, process, ways, practice, procedure, modus operandi, mo, method of operating, method &c, path

V. transact, execute, despatch, dispatch, proceed with, discharge, carry on, carry through, carry out, carry into effect, put into effect, work out, go through, get through, enact, put into practice, do, officiate, bear oneself, behave oneself, comport oneself, demean oneself, carry oneself, conduct oneself, acquit oneself, run a race, lead a life, play a game, take a course, adopt a course, steer one's course, shape one's course, play one's paint, play one's cards, shift for oneself, paddle one's own canoe, bail one's own boat, conduct, manage, supervise, participate, deal with, have to do with, treat, handle a case, take steps, take measures

Adj. conducting, strategical, businesslike, practical, executive

N. rite, ceremony, ritual, liturgy, ceremonial, ordinance, observance, function, duty, form, formulary, solemnity, sacrament, incantation, service, psalmody, ministration, preaching, preachment, predication, sermon, homily, lecture, discourse, pastoral, baptism, christening, chrism, circumcision, baptismal regeneration, font, confirmation, imposition of hands, laying on of hands, ordination, excommunication, bar mitzvah, bas mitzvah, bris, eucharist, lord's supper, communion, the sacrament, the holy sacrament, celebration, high celebration, missa cantata, asperges, offertory, introit, consecration, consubstantiation, transubstantiation, real presence, elements, mass, high mass, low mass, dry mass, matrimony, burial, visitation of the sick, seven sacraments, impanation, subpanation, extreme unction, viaticum, invocation of saints, canonization, transfiguration, auricular confession, maceration, flagellation, sackcloth and ashes, penance, telling of beads, processional, thurification, incense, holy water, aspersion, relics, rosary, beads, reliquary, host, cross, rood, crucifix, pax, pyx, agnus dei, censer, thurible, patera, eileton, holy grail, prayer machine, prayer wheel, sangraal, urceus, ritualism, ceremonialism, sabbatism, sabbatarianism, ritualist, sabbatarian, holyday, feast, fast, sabbath, pentecost, advent, christmas, epiphany, lent, passion week, holy week, easter, easter sunday, whitsuntide, agape, ascension day, candlemas, ash wednesday, good friday, holy thursday, lammas, martinmas, michaelmas, all saint's day, all souls' day ramadan, ramazan, bairam &c, &c. passover, shabuoth, yom kippur, day of atonement, rosh hashana, new year, hanukkah, chanukkah, feast of lights, purim, feast of lots

V. perform service, do duty, minister, officiate, baptize, dip, sprinkle, anoint, confirm, lay hands on, give the sacrament, administer the sacrament, administer extreme unction, hear confession, administer holy penance, shrive, excommunicate, ban with bell book and candle, attend services, attend mass, go to mass, hear mass, take the sacrament, receive the sacrament, receive communion, attend the sacrament, partake of the sacrament, partake of communion, communicate, receive extreme unction, confess, go to confession, receive penance, anele, preach, sermonize, predicate, lecture

Adj. ritual, ritualistic, ceremonial, baptismal, eucharistical, paschal

Phr. "what art thou, thou idol ceremony?"