act

English Online Dictionary. What means act‎? What does act mean?

Translingual

Symbol

act

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

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: ăkt, IPA^(key): /ækt/
  • (Received Pronunciation, US, General Australian) IPA^(key): [ækt]
  • (Canada, Standard Southern British, Northern England) IPA^(key): [akt]
• (AAVE) IPA^(key): /æk/
• Rhymes: -ækt

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.
2. (obsolete, uncountable) Actuality.
3. (theology) Something done once and for all, as distinguished from a work.
4. (law, countable) A product of a legislative body, a statute.
5. The process of doing something.

6. (countable) A formal or official record of something done.
8. (countable, drama) A division of a theatrical performance.

9. (countable) A performer or performers in a show.

10. (countable) Any organized activity.
11. (countable) A display of behaviour.
    1. (countable) A display of behaviour meant to deceive.
12. A thesis maintained in public, in some English universities, by a candidate for a degree, or to show the proficiency of a student.
14. (law) Ellipsis of act of parliament.

Synonyms

• (something done): deed; see also Thesaurus:action
• (product of a legislative body): statute
• (display of behavior): pretense

Meronyms

• (drama): scene

Holonyms

• (drama): play

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

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

1. (intransitive) To do something.

2. (obsolete, transitive) To do (something); to perform.
3. (intransitive) To perform a theatrical role.

4. (intransitive) Of a play: to be acted out (well or badly).
5. (intransitive) To behave in a certain manner for an indefinite length of time.

6. (copulative) To convey an appearance of being.

7. (intransitive) To do something that causes a change binding on the doer.

8. (intransitive, construed with on or upon) To have an effect (on).

9. (transitive) To play (a role).

10. (transitive) To feign.
11. (intransitive, law) To carry out work as a legal representative in relation to a particular legal matter.

12. (intransitive, mathematics, construed with on or upon, of an algebraic structure) 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.

13. (obsolete, transitive) To move to action; to actuate; to animate.
14. (obsolete, Scotland, transitive) To enact; to decree.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Clipping of actually.

Adverb

act (comparative more act, superlative most act)

1. (text messaging) Clipping of actually.

References

• “act”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• CTA, cat, Cat, TAC, CAT, ATC, tac, cat-, TCA

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

• IPA^(key): /akt/

Noun

act n (plural acte)

1. act, deed, action

Declension

Related terms

• acțiune

See also

• fapt, faptă
• lucru

Further reading

• act in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)

Scots

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ak(t)/

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

• Eagle, Andy, ed. (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary, Scots Online.

Welsh

Etymology

From English act.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /akt/

Noun

act f (plural actau)

1. act

Derived terms

• Actau'r Apostolion (“the Acts of the Apostles”)
• actio (“to act”)
• actor (“actor”)
• actores (“actress”)

Mutation

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