"act out" meaning in English

See act out in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

IPA: /ˌækt ˈaʊ̯t/ Audio: en-au-act out.ogg [Australia] Forms: acts out [present, singular, third-person], acting out [participle, present], acted out [participle, past], acted out [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} act out (third-person singular simple present acts out, present participle acting out, simple past and past participle acted out)
  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see act, out.
    Sense id: en-act_out-en-verb-NwfrQQiQ
  2. (transitive) To perform something specific.
    (idiomatic) To perform a scene from a play, a charade or an exercise.
    Tags: idiomatic, transitive Translations (to perform a scene from a play, a charade or an exercise): jouer (French), odgrywać [imperfective] (Polish), odegrać [perfective] (Polish), представля́ть (predstavljátʹ) (Russian), предста́вить (predstávitʹ) (Russian), разы́грывать (razýgryvatʹ) (Russian), разыгра́ть (razygrátʹ) (Russian), odigrati (Serbo-Croatian), розігрувати (rozihruvaty) (Ukrainian)
    Sense id: en-act_out-en-verb-Kr-MCBME Disambiguation of 'to perform a scene from a play, a charade or an exercise': 1 81 10 7 0 1
  3. (transitive) To perform something specific.
    (idiomatic) To perform a fantasy in reality.
    Tags: idiomatic, transitive
    Sense id: en-act_out-en-verb-9gYHGrRa Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English phrasal verbs with particle (out) Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 2 5 51 2 20 20 Disambiguation of English phrasal verbs with particle (out): 8 8 40 6 19 19
  4. (transitive) To perform something specific. Tags: transitive
    Sense id: en-act_out-en-verb-JhOwj2Ti
  5. (transitive, intransitive) To express internal feelings or thoughts.
    To express one's feelings through disruptive actions.
    Tags: intransitive, transitive Translations (to express one's feelings through disruptive actions): péter les plombs (French), ausleben (German), кочевря́житься (kočevrjážitʹsja) (Russian), дура́читься (duráčitʹsja) (Russian), выде́лываться (vydélyvatʹsja) (Russian), выёбываться (vyjóbyvatʹsja) [vulgar] (Russian), utåtagerande [adjective] (Swedish), utagera (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-act_out-en-verb-3JIRTNE0 Disambiguation of "to express one's feelings through disruptive actions": 0 1 3 0 86 9
  6. (transitive, intransitive) To express internal feelings or thoughts.
    To express ideas or desires through actions rather than words.
    Tags: intransitive, transitive
    Sense id: en-act_out-en-verb-zNrBEcDr

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for act out meaning in English (7.1kB)

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "acts out",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "acting out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "acted out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "acted out",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "act out (third-person singular simple present acts out, present participle acting out, simple past and past participle acted out)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "She's a street performer, so she acts out on Ninth Street."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see act, out."
      ],
      "id": "en-act_out-en-verb-NwfrQQiQ",
      "links": [
        [
          "act",
          "act#English"
        ],
        [
          "out",
          "out#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Despite already being aware, he will be acting out the pretence of a surprise."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To perform something specific.",
        "To perform a scene from a play, a charade or an exercise."
      ],
      "id": "en-act_out-en-verb-Kr-MCBME",
      "links": [
        [
          "scene",
          "scene"
        ],
        [
          "play",
          "play"
        ],
        [
          "charade",
          "charade"
        ],
        [
          "exercise",
          "exercise"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To perform something specific.",
        "(idiomatic) To perform a scene from a play, a charade or an exercise."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "transitive"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "1 81 10 7 0 1",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "to perform a scene from a play, a charade or an exercise",
          "word": "jouer"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "1 81 10 7 0 1",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to perform a scene from a play, a charade or an exercise",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "odgrywać"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "1 81 10 7 0 1",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to perform a scene from a play, a charade or an exercise",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "odegrać"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "1 81 10 7 0 1",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "predstavljátʹ",
          "sense": "to perform a scene from a play, a charade or an exercise",
          "word": "представля́ть"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "1 81 10 7 0 1",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "predstávitʹ",
          "sense": "to perform a scene from a play, a charade or an exercise",
          "word": "предста́вить"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "1 81 10 7 0 1",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "razýgryvatʹ",
          "sense": "to perform a scene from a play, a charade or an exercise",
          "word": "разы́грывать"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "1 81 10 7 0 1",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "razygrátʹ",
          "sense": "to perform a scene from a play, a charade or an exercise",
          "word": "разыгра́ть"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "1 81 10 7 0 1",
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "to perform a scene from a play, a charade or an exercise",
          "word": "odigrati"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "1 81 10 7 0 1",
          "code": "uk",
          "lang": "Ukrainian",
          "roman": "rozihruvaty",
          "sense": "to perform a scene from a play, a charade or an exercise",
          "word": "розігрувати"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "2 5 51 2 20 20",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "8 8 40 6 19 19",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English phrasal verbs with particle (out)",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I've wanted to do this for so long, but I never thought I could act it out.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To perform something specific.",
        "To perform a fantasy in reality."
      ],
      "id": "en-act_out-en-verb-9gYHGrRa",
      "links": [
        [
          "perform",
          "perform"
        ],
        [
          "fantasy",
          "fantasy"
        ],
        [
          "reality",
          "reality"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To perform something specific.",
        "(idiomatic) To perform a fantasy in reality."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1987, Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today's Students",
          "text": "What was acted out in the American and French Revolutions had been thought out beforehand in the writings of Locke and Rousseau, the scenarists for the drama of modern politics.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To perform something specific."
      ],
      "id": "en-act_out-en-verb-JhOwj2Ti",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To perform something specific."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I know you're angry, but you can't act out and break dishes like that."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To express internal feelings or thoughts.",
        "To express one's feelings through disruptive actions."
      ],
      "id": "en-act_out-en-verb-3JIRTNE0",
      "links": [
        [
          "transitive",
          "transitive"
        ],
        [
          "intransitive",
          "intransitive"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, intransitive) To express internal feelings or thoughts.",
        "To express one's feelings through disruptive actions."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "transitive"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "0 1 3 0 86 9",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "to express one's feelings through disruptive actions",
          "word": "péter les plombs"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 1 3 0 86 9",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to express one's feelings through disruptive actions",
          "word": "ausleben"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 1 3 0 86 9",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "kočevrjážitʹsja",
          "sense": "to express one's feelings through disruptive actions",
          "word": "кочевря́житься"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 1 3 0 86 9",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "duráčitʹsja",
          "sense": "to express one's feelings through disruptive actions",
          "word": "дура́читься"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 1 3 0 86 9",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "vydélyvatʹsja",
          "sense": "to express one's feelings through disruptive actions",
          "word": "выде́лываться"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 1 3 0 86 9",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "vyjóbyvatʹsja",
          "sense": "to express one's feelings through disruptive actions",
          "tags": [
            "vulgar"
          ],
          "word": "выёбываться"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 1 3 0 86 9",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "to express one's feelings through disruptive actions",
          "tags": [
            "adjective"
          ],
          "word": "utåtagerande"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 1 3 0 86 9",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "to express one's feelings through disruptive actions",
          "word": "utagera"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "When her jaw was wired shut, she had acted out what she needed."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To express internal feelings or thoughts.",
        "To express ideas or desires through actions rather than words."
      ],
      "id": "en-act_out-en-verb-zNrBEcDr",
      "links": [
        [
          "transitive",
          "transitive"
        ],
        [
          "intransitive",
          "intransitive"
        ],
        [
          "action",
          "action"
        ],
        [
          "word",
          "word"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, intransitive) To express internal feelings or thoughts.",
        "To express ideas or desires through actions rather than words."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌækt ˈaʊ̯t/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-act out.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/60/En-au-act_out.ogg/En-au-act_out.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/En-au-act_out.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Acting out"
  ],
  "word": "act out"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English phrasal verbs",
    "English phrasal verbs with particle (out)",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English verbs"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "acts out",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "acting out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "acted out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "acted out",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "act out (third-person singular simple present acts out, present participle acting out, simple past and past participle acted out)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "She's a street performer, so she acts out on Ninth Street."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see act, out."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "act",
          "act#English"
        ],
        [
          "out",
          "out#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English transitive verbs",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Despite already being aware, he will be acting out the pretence of a surprise."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To perform something specific.",
        "To perform a scene from a play, a charade or an exercise."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "scene",
          "scene"
        ],
        [
          "play",
          "play"
        ],
        [
          "charade",
          "charade"
        ],
        [
          "exercise",
          "exercise"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To perform something specific.",
        "(idiomatic) To perform a scene from a play, a charade or an exercise."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English transitive verbs",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I've wanted to do this for so long, but I never thought I could act it out.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To perform something specific.",
        "To perform a fantasy in reality."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "perform",
          "perform"
        ],
        [
          "fantasy",
          "fantasy"
        ],
        [
          "reality",
          "reality"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To perform something specific.",
        "(idiomatic) To perform a fantasy in reality."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English transitive verbs",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1987, Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today's Students",
          "text": "What was acted out in the American and French Revolutions had been thought out beforehand in the writings of Locke and Rousseau, the scenarists for the drama of modern politics.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To perform something specific."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To perform something specific."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I know you're angry, but you can't act out and break dishes like that."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To express internal feelings or thoughts.",
        "To express one's feelings through disruptive actions."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "transitive",
          "transitive"
        ],
        [
          "intransitive",
          "intransitive"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, intransitive) To express internal feelings or thoughts.",
        "To express one's feelings through disruptive actions."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "When her jaw was wired shut, she had acted out what she needed."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To express internal feelings or thoughts.",
        "To express ideas or desires through actions rather than words."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "transitive",
          "transitive"
        ],
        [
          "intransitive",
          "intransitive"
        ],
        [
          "action",
          "action"
        ],
        [
          "word",
          "word"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, intransitive) To express internal feelings or thoughts.",
        "To express ideas or desires through actions rather than words."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌækt ˈaʊ̯t/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-act out.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/60/En-au-act_out.ogg/En-au-act_out.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/En-au-act_out.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to perform a scene from a play, a charade or an exercise",
      "word": "jouer"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to perform a scene from a play, a charade or an exercise",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "odgrywać"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to perform a scene from a play, a charade or an exercise",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "odegrać"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "predstavljátʹ",
      "sense": "to perform a scene from a play, a charade or an exercise",
      "word": "представля́ть"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "predstávitʹ",
      "sense": "to perform a scene from a play, a charade or an exercise",
      "word": "предста́вить"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "razýgryvatʹ",
      "sense": "to perform a scene from a play, a charade or an exercise",
      "word": "разы́грывать"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "razygrátʹ",
      "sense": "to perform a scene from a play, a charade or an exercise",
      "word": "разыгра́ть"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "to perform a scene from a play, a charade or an exercise",
      "word": "odigrati"
    },
    {
      "code": "uk",
      "lang": "Ukrainian",
      "roman": "rozihruvaty",
      "sense": "to perform a scene from a play, a charade or an exercise",
      "word": "розігрувати"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to express one's feelings through disruptive actions",
      "word": "péter les plombs"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to express one's feelings through disruptive actions",
      "word": "ausleben"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "kočevrjážitʹsja",
      "sense": "to express one's feelings through disruptive actions",
      "word": "кочевря́житься"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "duráčitʹsja",
      "sense": "to express one's feelings through disruptive actions",
      "word": "дура́читься"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "vydélyvatʹsja",
      "sense": "to express one's feelings through disruptive actions",
      "word": "выде́лываться"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "vyjóbyvatʹsja",
      "sense": "to express one's feelings through disruptive actions",
      "tags": [
        "vulgar"
      ],
      "word": "выёбываться"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "to express one's feelings through disruptive actions",
      "tags": [
        "adjective"
      ],
      "word": "utåtagerande"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "to express one's feelings through disruptive actions",
      "word": "utagera"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Acting out"
  ],
  "word": "act out"
}
{
  "called_from": "page/1498/20230118",
  "msg": "''To perform something specific.'[...]' gloss has examples we want to keep, but there are subglosses.",
  "path": [
    "act out"
  ],
  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "verb",
  "title": "act out",
  "trace": ""
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.