act — OET · Shobdo

act

verb

1 the Government must act to remedy the situation:

take action, take steps, take measures, take the initiative, move, make a move, react, do something, proceed, go ahead;

make progress, make headway, be active, be employed, be busy;

informal get moving.

▷antonyms do nothing.

2 over dinner Alison began to act oddly:

behave, function, react, perform;

conduct oneself, acquit oneself, bear oneself;

rare comport oneself, deport oneself.

3 the scents act as a powerful aphrodisiac:

operate, work, take effect, function, serve, be efficacious.

4 he acted in a highly successful film:

perform, play, play a part, take part, be an actor, be an actress, be one of the cast, appear;

informal tread the boards.

5 we laughed, but most of us were just acting:

pretend, play-act, sham, fake, feign, put it on, bluff, pose, posture, masquerade, dissemble, dissimulate;

informal kid.

□ act for

the estate agent was acting for a prospective buyer:

represent, act on behalf of, speak on behalf of;

stand in for, fill in for, deputize for, cover for, substitute for, be a substitute for, replace, take the place of, act in place of, do/be a locum for, sit in for, understudy;

hold the fort, step into the breach;

informal sub for, fill someone's shoes/boots;

North American, informal pinch-hit for.

□ act on (also act upon)

1 the drug acted directly on the blood vessels:

affect, have an effect on, influence, exert influence on, work on, have an impact on, impact on, alter, change, modify, transform, condition, control.

▷antonyms have no effect on.

2 he was merely acting on the orders of the party leader:

comply with, act in accordance with, follow, go along with;

obey, take heed of, heed, conform to, abide by, adhere to, stick to, stand by, uphold, fulfil, meet, discharge.

▷antonyms flout.

□ act up

1 the pupils are past masters at acting up in class:

misbehave, give someone trouble, cause someone trouble, act badly, get up to mischief, get up to no good, be bad, be naughty, forget oneself, misconduct oneself;

clown about, clown around, fool about, fool around, act the clown, act the fool, act the goat, act foolishly;

informal carry on, mess about, mess around;

British, informal muck about, muck around, play up.

2 the computers are always acting up:

malfunction, crash, develop a fault, go wrong, break down, give out, stall, be defective, be faulty, fail, cease to function, cease to work, stop working;

informal conk out, go kaput, go phut, go on the blink, be on the blink;

British, informal pack up, play up.

noun

1 a life filled with acts of kindness | a criminal act:

deed, action, gesture, feat, exploit, move, performance, undertaking, manoeuvre, stunt, operation, venture, effort, enterprise, achievement, accomplishment.

2 the Act raised the tax on tobacco:

law, decree, statute, bill, Act of Parliament, edict, fiat, dictum, dictate, enactment, resolution, ruling, rule, judgement, canon, ordinance, proclamation, command, commandment, mandate, measure, stipulation, direction, requirement;

legislation;

in Tsarist Russia ukase;

in Spanish-speaking countries pronunciamento.

3 I have written one act of a play:

division, section, subsection, portion, part, segment, component, bit;

passage, episode, chapter.

4 a marvellous music hall act:

performance, turn, routine, number, item, piece, sketch, skit, playlet, dance, song;

show, production, presentation, entertainment;

informal gig.

5 my mother thinks crying is simply putting on an act:

pretence, false display, show, front, facade, masquerade, charade, guise, posture, pose, affectation, appearance;

sham, fake, bluff, hoax;

make-believe, play-acting, feigning, shamming, posturing, posing, counterfeit, subterfuge, dissimulation, dissemblance, fabrication, falsification;

informal a put-on, a put-up job.

act Oxford Dictionary of English