act
Part of speech: verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: law
mathematics
sciences
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-
Proto-Indo-European *-eti
Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti
Proto-Italic *agō
Latin agō
Latin ācta
Old French actbor.
Middle English acte
English act
From Middle English acte, from Old French acte, from Latin ācta (“register of events”), plural of āctum (“decree, law”), from agere (“to do, to act”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti. Compare German Akte (“file”). Partially displaced deed, from Old English dǣd (“act, deed”).
Inflected forms:
form: acts
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: acting
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: acted
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: acted
pos: verb
tags: past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: act
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: act
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: acted
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: act
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: actest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: acted
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: actedst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: acts
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: acteth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: acted
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: act
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: acted
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: act
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: acted
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: act
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: acting
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: acted
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
Senses:
gloss: To do something.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: If you don’t act soon, you will be in trouble.
gloss: To do (something); to perform.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: that we act our temporal affairs with a deſire no greater than our neceſſity
Industry doth beget by producing good habits, and facility of acting things expedient for us to do.
Uplifted hands that at convenient times / Could act extortion and the worst of crimes.
gloss: To perform a theatrical role.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: I started acting at the age of eleven in my local theatre.
gloss: Of a play: to be acted out (well or badly).
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: But whatever types he assumes, the need to have a good play which acts delightfully well before the audience, and to their delectation, is the dominant thrust. If the play acts well, the director gets the credits.
gloss: To behave in a certain manner for an indefinite length of time.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: A dog which acts aggressively is likely to bite.
I believe that Bill’s stuck-up because of the way that he acts.
He’s acting strangely—I think there’s something wrong with him.
gloss: To convey an appearance of being.
pos: verb
tags: copulative
examples: He acted unconcerned so the others wouldn’t worry.
gloss: To do something that causes a change binding on the doer.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: act on behalf of John
gloss: To have an effect (on).
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: High-pressure oxygen acts on the central nervous system and may cause convulsions or death.
Gravitational force acts on heavy bodies.
gloss: To play (a role).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: He’s been acting Shakespearean leads since he was twelve.
gloss: To feign.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: He acted the angry parent, but was secretly amused.
With acted fear the villain thus pursued.
gloss: To carry out work as a legal representative in relation to a particular legal matter.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: A lawyer cannot act until they have been formally instructed by their client.
gloss: To possess an action onto (some other structure). Examples include the group action of a group on a set, the action of a ring on a module by scalar multiplication, and the action of a group or algebra on a vector space via a representation.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: This group acts on the circle, so it can't be left-orderable!
gloss: To move to action; to actuate; to animate.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: Self-love, the spring of motion, acts the soul.
gloss: To enact; to decree.
pos: verb
tags: Scotland
obsolete
transitive
Related words: action
active
activate
deactivate
Derived words: coact
actability
actable
act a fool
act against
act chicken
act like a bull in a china shop
act on
act one's age
actor
act out
act possum
actress
act smart
act the fool
act the giddy goat
act the goat
act the hypocrite
act the jennet
act the maggot
act up
act upon
autoreact
backreact
co-act
counteract
crossreact
enact
interact
interreact
misact
outact
overact
overreact
play-act
preact
proact
react
retroact
unacted
underact
underreact
voice-act
watch and act
Translations: