as in to misconduct
to behave badly
because his parents spent so much time with his chronically ill sister, the boy resorted to acting out in order to get attention
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Recent Examples of act out
Furthermore, writing and acting out plays about their experiences with type 1 diabetes also eases children’s anxieties around their condition.
—
Elizabeth McClure, The Orlando Sentinel, 12 Mar. 2026
The 98th Academy Awards will nevertheless be acting out of an abundance of caution, per Variety.
—Jami Ganz, New York Daily News, 12 Mar. 2026
But McNicholas said that the department is acting out of concern about public perception and to punish the officers for refusing to remove the plates when asked to do so by their superiors.
—Fedor Zarkhin, Los Angeles Times, 11 Mar. 2026
The tune was generated using AI music generator Suno, with the accompanying content created by the team at Particle6, used new techniques around performance capture, with Particle6 founder Eline van der Velden acting out Tilly’s performance.
—Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 10 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for act out
Elizabeth McClure, The Orlando Sentinel, 12 Mar. 2026
The 98th Academy Awards will nevertheless be acting out of an abundance of caution, per Variety.
—Jami Ganz, New York Daily News, 12 Mar. 2026
But McNicholas said that the department is acting out of concern about public perception and to punish the officers for refusing to remove the plates when asked to do so by their superiors.
—Fedor Zarkhin, Los Angeles Times, 11 Mar. 2026
The tune was generated using AI music generator Suno, with the accompanying content created by the team at Particle6, used new techniques around performance capture, with Particle6 founder Eline van der Velden acting out Tilly’s performance.
—Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 10 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for act out
Recent Examples of Synonyms for act out
Verb
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Kyorkian was booked into the Sonoma County Jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, violation of civil rights (hate crime) and disobeying a court order.—
Tim Fang,
CBS News,
2 Apr. 2026
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State police said Bishop was charged with operating under the influence of alcohol or drugs, reckless driving, disobeying the signal of an officer, evading responsibility, driving the wrong way on a divided highway and first-degree reckless endangerment.—
Justin Muszynski,
Hartford Courant,
1 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The women’s games are covered by ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNNEWS, with some of the marquee team’s early games carried on ABC.—
Eric Womack,
Hartford Courant,
1 Apr. 2026
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The open casting call has been made, and auditions are scheduled for this spring, as early as next week, and will carry on throughout the summer.—
Omar Kelly,
Miami Herald,
31 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The black flies are not the only troublesome creature acting up during the unseasonably warm weather.—
Clara Harter,
Los Angeles Times,
28 Mar. 2026
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Intel’s representative explained that the Intel team has pushed this to extremes in testing—their vPro team even challenged each other, successfully, to try to access a troubled machine that was acting up on a flight, over airplane Wi-Fi!—
John Burek,
PC Magazine,
25 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Dulla Bhatti belonged to a family of local chiefs who rebelled against the Mughal authority by opposing land revenues and taxes.—
Tamanna Nangia,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
2 Apr. 2026
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The House voted to pass a short-term funding patch for the Department of Homeland Security late Friday night, rebelling against a plan from Senate Republicans that omitted funding for immigration enforcement agencies.—
Rachel Schilke,
The Washington Examiner,
28 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Act out.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/act%20out. Accessed 5 Apr. 2026.
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