actor
EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
EtymologyEdit
Middle English actour, from Anglo-Norman actor, Middle French actor, and their source, Latin āctor (“doer”), from agō (“to do”). Equivalent to act + -or. Cognate with Ancient Greek ἄκτωρ (áktōr, “leader”), from ἄγω (ágō, “lead, carry, convey, bring”).
PronunciationEdit
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈak.tə/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈæk.tɚ/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (UK) (file) - Homophone: acter
- Rhymes: -æktə(ɹ)
NounEdit
actor (plural actors, feminine actress, or (nonstandard) actoress)
- (obsolete, law) Someone who institutes a legal suit; a plaintiff or complainant. [13th–19th c.]
- (obsolete) Someone acting on behalf of someone else; a guardian. [14th–18th c.]
- Someone or something that takes part in some action; a doer, an agent. [from 15th c.]
- 1792, Charlotte Smith, Desmond, Broadview 2001, p. 373:
- Never, my dear Bethel, did the most feverish dreams of fiction produce scenes more painful, or more terrific, than the real events to which I have been an actor, since the date of my last letter.
- 1792, Charlotte Smith, Desmond, Broadview 2001, p. 373:
- A person who acts a part in a theatrical play or (later) in film or television; a dramatic performer. [from 16th c.]
- 1991, Ani DiFranco (lyrics and music), “Anticipate”, in Not So Soft:
- Seems like everyone's an actor / Or they're an actor's best friend / I wonder what was wrong to begin with / That they should all have to pretend
- 2017 April 2, “Marijuana”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 4, episode 7, HBO:
- Exactly. Marijuana is something we just all gradually decided is okay, like Mark Wahlberg as a serious actor. “You know what? Sure, I’ve decided I’m fine with that.”
- 2010, Peter Corris, Torn Apart, Allen and Unwin, page 88:
- "I'm an actress -- actor, as we have to say these days."
- (obsolete, Ancient Rome) An advocate or proctor in civil courts or causes. [16th–19th c.]
- (grammar) The subject performing the action of a verb. [from 18th c.]
- (software engineering) The entity that performs a role (in use case analysis).
Usage notesEdit
- In the sense of a person who acts in a play or film, the traditional sense of the word only applied to male actors, the term actress being used for the female counterpart.
SynonymsEdit
- (person who performs in a theatrical play or film): performer, player
- (one who acts): doer
- (one who takes part): participant
- (a plaintiff): complainant, plaintiff
- (entity performing a role in use case analysis): role
AntonymsEdit
- (grammatical role): undergoer
HyponymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
TranslationsEdit
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Further readingEdit
- actor in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- actor in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
- actor at OneLook Dictionary Search
AnagramsEdit
AsturianEdit
EtymologyEdit
NounEdit
actor m (plural actores)
- An actor.
Related termsEdit
CatalanEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
actor m (plural actors, feminine actriu)
- An actor.
Related termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- “actor” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
DutchEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
actor m (plural actores or actoren, diminutive actortje n)
- An actor; an agent, a player, who has a part in some field of economical, social or other action, i.e. an active human factor.
Related termsEdit
GalicianEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
actor m (plural actores, feminine actriz, feminine plural actrices)
- actor
- A acción revela o actor.
- The act reveals the actor
Further readingEdit
- “actor” in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega, Royal Galician Academy.
LatinEdit
EtymologyEdit
Agent noun formed from āctus + -tor, perfect passive participle of agō (“do, act, make”).
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
āctor m (genitive āctōris, feminine āctrīx); third declension
- a doer, an agent
- An actor (person who performs in a theatrical play or movie).
- A (law) prosecutor, plaintiff, advocate, orator.
DeclensionEdit
Third-declension noun.
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | āctor | āctōrēs |
Genitive | āctōris | āctōrum |
Dative | āctōrī | āctōribus |
Accusative | āctōrem | āctōrēs |
Ablative | āctōre | āctōribus |
Vocative | āctor | āctōrēs |
Related termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- “actor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “actor”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- actor in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- actor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
- Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
- the actor who plays the leading part: actor primarum (secundarum, tertiarum) partium
- the actor who plays the leading part: actor primarum (secundarum, tertiarum) partium
- “actor”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia[2]
- “actor”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “actor”, in William Smith, editor (1848) A Dictionary of Greek Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
- “actor”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
Middle EnglishEdit
NounEdit
actor
- Alternative form of actour
OccitanEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
actor m (plural actors, feminine actritz, feminine plural actrises)
- An actor.
PortugueseEdit
NounEdit
actor m (plural actores)
- Superseded spelling of ator. (Superseded in Brazil by the 1943 spelling reform and by the Portuguese Language Orthographic Agreement of 1990 elsewhere. Still used in countries where the agreement hasn’t come into effect and as an alternative spelling in Portugal.)
RomanianEdit
Alternative formsEdit
- aftor (dated)
EtymologyEdit
Borrowed from French acteur, Latin āctor.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
actor m (plural actori, feminine equivalent actriță)
DeclensionEdit
SynonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
- actor in DEX online - Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)
ScotsEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
actor (plural actors)
- An actor.
SpanishEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
actor m (plural actores, feminine actriz, feminine plural actrices)
- actor (person who performs in a theatrical play or movie)
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
NounEdit
actor m (plural actores, feminine actora, feminine plural actoras)
Further readingEdit
- “actor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
AnagramsEdit
WelshEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
actor m (plural actorion)
- An actor.
Coordinate termsEdit
- actores (“actress”)
MutationEdit
Welsh mutation | |||
---|---|---|---|
radical | soft | nasal | h-prothesis |
actor | unchanged | unchanged | hactor |
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. |
ReferencesEdit
- R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “actor”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies