1
as in acted out
to behave badly
the two-year-old was acting up in church so much that her dad had to take her outside
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in cut up
to engage in attention-getting playful or boisterous behavior
you should have seen the boys acting up when they put on their aprons
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of acted up
And of course, Peterson not playing would have made some wonder if the McDonald’s All-American’s hamstring had acted up again.
—
Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 7 Dec. 2025
Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 7 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for acted up
Verb
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Friends and family say Wright acted out throughout the trial, including missing previous court dates and removing himself from the stand.—
WCCO Staff,
CBS News,
20 Apr. 2026
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Like other states around the country, Tennessee was closing its public psychiatric hospitals, and mentally ill people who acted out were simply being jailed.—
James Verini,
New Yorker,
2 Mar. 2026
Verb
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In the photos, the former teammates are seen celebrating wins on the court, relaxing on vacation and cutting up during practice.—
Anna Lazarus Caplan,
PEOPLE,
13 May 2026
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Because the rings were found intact and not cut up for currency, this suggests they were not used for trade but instead served a symbolic purpose, likely decorative, communicating status, wealth, and power.—
Maria Mocerino,
Interesting Engineering,
10 May 2026
Verb
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An astronaut was interviewed beside someone in a spacesuit, and a team from Carnegie Mellon showed off some sort of handstanding robotic dog.—
Dan Greene,
New Yorker,
18 May 2026
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Jack Plummer continues to be one of the league's best quarterbacks, and showed off his rushing skills with a 71-yard score against Dallas.—
Jacob Camenker,
USA Today,
18 May 2026
Verb
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However, all of the city’s fire stations seemingly disobeyed the mayor by lowering their flags.—
R. Christian Smith,
Chicago Tribune,
29 Apr. 2026
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The group says Ensign misled courts, disobeyed court orders and failed to intervene when lawyers under his supervision engaged in misconduct.—
Jaclyn Diaz,
NPR,
25 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The mayor did not say anything back and carried on with his remarks.—
Aditi Sangal,
CNN Money,
18 May 2026
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They were dumped in a bin, along with White House staff burner phones, to make sure nothing was carried on to the presidential jet that could have been used to collect information.—
Rob Crilly,
The Washington Examiner,
15 May 2026
Verb
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Jane rebelled against Marge’s efforts to manage her choices, especially on whom to date.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
14 May 2026
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As a young woman, my mother rebelled against this laborious femininity, mostly wearing jeans and loose men’s shirts.—
Benny Peterson,
Vogue,
4 May 2026
Verb
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Not too long ago, artificial intelligence was more or less a science project in which data scientists and developers fooled around with one-off small or test projects.—
Joe McKendrick,
Forbes.com,
26 Jan. 2026
Verb
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While hundreds reveled at Thursday night’s all-out bash for The Pierre hotel’s 95th anniversary, some of the building’s tenants in the floors above haven’t been feeling quite as celebratory.—
Rosemary Feitelberg,
Footwear News,
21 Nov. 2025
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In the party scene, though, there would be plenty of swooping camera movements as the guests revelled.—
Margaret Talbot,
New Yorker,
3 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Acted up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/acted%20up. Accessed 21 May. 2026.
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