act

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See also: ACT, Act, act., Act., A.C.T., and A. C. T.

Translingual

Symbol

act

  1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Achterhooks.

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

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”).

Noun

act (countable and uncountable, plural acts)

  1. (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.
  2. (obsolete, uncountable) Actuality.
    • 1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, , London: Will Stansby , published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):
      The seeds of plants are not at first in act, but in possibility, what they afterward grow to be.
  3. (theology) Something done once and for all, as distinguished from a work.
  4. (law, countable) A product of a legislative body, a statute.
    • 2012 March, William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter, “The British Longitude Act Reconsidered”, in American Scientist‎, 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.
  5. The process of doing something.
    He was caught in the act of stealing.
  6. (countable) A formal or official record of something done.
  8. (countable, drama) A division of a theatrical performance.
    • 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Lisson Grove Mystery”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:
      “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.
  9. (countable) A performer or performers in a show.
    Which act did you prefer? The soloist or the band?
  10. (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.
  11. (countable) A display of behaviour.
  12. A thesis maintained in public, in some English universities, by a candidate for a degree, or to show the proficiency of a student.
  13. (countable) A display of behaviour meant to deceive.
    to put on an act
  15. (law) Ellipsis of act of parliament.
Synonyms
Meronyms
Holonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

act (third-person singular simple present acts, present participle acting, simple past and past participle acted)

  1. (intransitive) To do something.
    If you don't act soon, you will be in trouble.
  2. (obsolete, transitive) To do (something); to perform.
    • 1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, “Signes of Purity of Intention”, in The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. , 2nd edition, London: Francis Ashe , →OCLC, page 23:
      that we act our temporal affairs with a deſire no greater than our neceſſity
    • a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “(please specify the chapter name or sermon number). Of Industry in General”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. , volumes (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: A J Valpy, , published 1830–1831, →OCLC:
      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.
  3. (intransitive) To perform a theatrical role.
    I started acting at the age of eleven in my local theatre.
  4. (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.
  5. (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.
  6. (copulative) To convey an appearance of being.
    He acted unconcerned so the others wouldn't worry.
  7. (intransitive) To do something that causes a change binding on the doer.
    act on behalf of John
  8. (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.
  9. (transitive) To play (a role).
    He's been acting Shakespearean leads since he was twelve.
  10. (transitive) To feign.
    He acted the angry parent, but was secretly amused.
    • 1697, Virgil, “The Second Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. , London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC:
      With acted fear the villain thus pursued.
  11. (intransitive, law) To carry out work as a legal representative in relation to a particular legal matter.
    A lawyer cannot act until they have been formally instructed by their client.
  12. (intransitive, mathematics, 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!
  13. (obsolete, transitive) To move to action; to actuate; to animate.
  14. (obsolete, Scotland, transitive) To enact; to decree.
Conjugation
Conjugation of act
infinitive (to) act
present tense past tense
1st-person singular act acted
2nd-person singular act, actest† acted, actedst†
3rd-person singular acts, acteth† acted
plural act
subjunctive act acted
imperative act —
participles acting acted

†Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
to feign — see feign
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Etymology 2

Clipping of actually.

Adverb

act (comparative more act, superlative most act)

  1. (text messaging) Clipping of actually.
    james did u act enjoy that juice? looked like u were gagging icl

References

  1. ^ “act, v.” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.

Anagrams

Middle English

Noun

act

  1. Alternative form of acte

Old Irish

Conjunction

act

  1. Alternative spelling of acht (“but”)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French acte, from Latin actus.

Pronunciation

Noun

act n (plural acte)

  1. act, deed, action

Declension

Declension of act
singular plural
indefinite articulation definite articulation indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (un) act actul (niște) acte actele
genitive/dative (unui) act actului (unor) acte actelor
vocative actule actelor

Related terms

See also

Further reading

Scots

Pronunciation

Noun

act (plural acts)

  1. an act

Verb

act (third-person singular simple present acts, present participle actin, simple past actit, past participle actit)

  1. act
  2. enact
  3. decree

References

Welsh

Etymology

From English act.

Pronunciation

Noun

act f (plural actau)

  1. act

Derived terms

Mutation

Welsh mutation
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 reading

  • 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
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