act
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English acte, from Old French acte, from Latin ācta (“register of events”), plural of āctum (“decree, law”), from agō (“put in motion”). Compare German Akte (“file”). Partially displaced deed, from Old English dǣd (“act, deed”).
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
act (countable and uncountable, plural acts)
- (countable) Something done, a deed.
- an act of goodwill
- 1798, William Wordsworth, Lines
- That best portion of a good man's life, / His little, nameless, unremembered acts / Of kindness and of love.
- (obsolete, uncountable) Actuality.
- 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie
- The seeds of plants are not at first in act, but in possibility, what they afterward grow to be.
- 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie
- (theology) Something done once and for all, as distinguished from a work.
- (countable) A product of a legislative body, a statute.
- 2012 March 1, William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter, “The British Longitude Act Reconsidered”, in American Scientist[1], volume 100, number 2, page 87:
- But was it responsible governance to pass the Longitude Act without other efforts to protect British seamen? Or might it have been subterfuge—a disingenuous attempt to shift attention away from the realities of their life at sea.
- The process of doing something.
- He was caught in the act of stealing.
- (countable) A formal or official record of something done.
- (countable, drama) A division of a theatrical performance.
- 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, in The Lisson Grove Mystery[2]:
- “H'm !” he said, “so, so—it is a tragedy in a prologue and three acts. I am going down this afternoon to see the curtain fall for the third time on what [...] will prove a good burlesque ; but it all began dramatically enough. It was last Saturday […] that two boys, playing in the little spinney just outside Wembley Park Station, came across three large parcels done up in American cloth. […]”
- The pivotal moment in the play was in the first scene of the second act.
- (countable) A performer or performers in a show.
- Which act did you prefer? The soloist or the band?
- (countable) Any organized activity.
- 1934, Babette Hughes, One egg: a farce in one act, page 46:
- The minute you let it be known you're planning a sales campaign everybody wants to get into the act.
- (countable) A display of behaviour.
- A thesis maintained in public, in some English universities, by a candidate for a degree, or to show the proficiency of a student.
- (countable) A display of behaviour meant to deceive.
- to put on an act
SynonymsEdit
- (something done): deed; see also Thesaurus:action
- (product of a legislative body): statute
- (display of behavior): pretense
MeronymsEdit
- (drama): scene
HolonymsEdit
- (drama): play
Derived termsEdit
terms derived from act (noun)
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
deed
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state of existence
statute
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process of doing
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formal record of something done
drama: division of theatrical performance
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display of behaviour
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
VerbEdit
act (third-person singular simple present acts, present participle acting, simple past and past participle acted)
- (intransitive) To do something.
- If you don't act soon, you will be in trouble.
- (obsolete, transitive) To do (something); to perform.
- 1650, Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living, Purity of Intention
- that we act our temporal affairs with a desire no greater than our necessity
- a. 1677, Isaac Barrow, Of Industry in General (sermon)
- Industry doth beget by producing good habits, and facility of acting things expedient for us to do.
- 1782, William Cowper, Expostulation
- Uplifted hands that at convenient times / Could act extortion and the worst of crimes.
- 1650, Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living, Purity of Intention
- (intransitive) To perform a theatrical role.
- I started acting at the age of eleven in my local theatre.
- (intransitive) Of a play: to be acted out (well or badly).
- 2011, Effiong Johnson, Play Production Processes, page 180:
- 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.
- (intransitive) To behave in a certain manner for an indefinite length of time.
- 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.
- (copulative) To convey an appearance of being.
- He acted unconcerned so the others wouldn't worry.
- (intransitive) To do something that causes a change binding on the doer.
- act on behalf of John
- (intransitive, construed with on or upon) To have an effect (on).
- High-pressure oxygen acts on the central nervous system and may cause convulsions or death.
- Gravitational force acts on heavy bodies.
- (transitive) To play (a role).
- He's been acting Shakespearean leads since he was twelve.
- (transitive) To feign.
- He acted the angry parent, but was secretly amused.
- 1697, “The Second Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 403869432:
- With acted fear the villain thus pursued.
- (mathematics, intransitive, construed with on or upon, of a group) To map via a homomorphism to a group of automorphisms (of).
- This group acts on the circle, so it can't be left-orderable!
- (obsolete, transitive) To move to action; to actuate; to animate.
- 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: Printed for J[ohn] Wilford, […], OCLC 960856019:
- Self-love, the spring of motion, acts the soul.
Derived termsEdit
terms derived from act (verb)
Related termsEdit
terms related to act (verb)
TranslationsEdit
to do something
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to perform a theatrical role
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to behave in a certain way
to convey an appearance of being
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to respond to information
to feign — see feign
to have an effect on
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to map to a group of automorphisms
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
AnagramsEdit
Old IrishEdit
ConjunctionEdit
act
- Alternative spelling of acht (“but”)
RomanianEdit
EtymologyEdit
Borrowed from French acte, from Latin actus.
NounEdit
act n (plural acte)
Related termsEdit
See alsoEdit
Further readingEdit
- act in DEX online - Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)
ScotsEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
act (plural acts)
- an act
VerbEdit
act (third-person singular present acts, present participle actin, past actit, past participle actit)
ReferencesEdit
- Eagle, Andy, ed. (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary, Scots Online.
WelshEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
act f (plural actau)
Derived termsEdit
- Actau'r Apostolion (“Acts of the Apostles”)
- actio (“to act”)
- actor (“actor”)
- actores (“actress”)
MutationEdit
Welsh mutation | |||
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radical | soft | nasal | h-prothesis |
act | unchanged | unchanged | hact |
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. |
Further readingEdit
- R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present) , “act”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies