Meaning & use
action plan
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A list of steps to be taken, usually with deadlines and responsible people, to achieve a goal or solve a problem.
Grammar: Takes a: draw up an action plan; the plural is action plans.
Patterns
- draw up an action plan
- an action plan for something
- an action plan to do something
The school drew up an action plan to improve attendance.
After the audit, the company published an action plan with deadlines.
Each student wrote an action plan for the next term.
Word forms
| plural | action plans |
|---|
Common combinations
- draw up an action plan
- The committee will draw up an action plan next week.
- develop an action plan
- We need to develop an action plan for the launch.
- follow an action plan
- The team followed the action plan step by step.
- detailed action plan
- She sent a detailed action plan to the board.
- emergency action plan
- Every building should have an emergency action plan.
Synonyms and how they differ
- roadmap
- A roadmap shows long-term stages and direction, while an action plan lists the concrete steps.
- strategy
- A strategy is the overall approach, but an action plan spells out specific tasks.
- blueprint
- A blueprint is a detailed design or model, whereas an action plan is a to-do list.
- agenda
- An agenda lists items for a meeting, not steps toward a goal.
Word family
- action noun
- something done
- plan noun
- a set of intended steps
- plan verb
- to decide steps in advance
- actionable adjective
- able to be acted upon
Commonly confused: action plan or action item?
action plan vs action item
An action item is a single task from a meeting, whereas an action plan is the whole set of steps.
Practice
After the safety inspection, the manager wrote an ___ listing who would fix each problem and by when.
Choose one answer.
An action plan lists steps, people and deadlines. The other phrases refer to entertainment or toys.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “action plan”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.