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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Administration officials have argued Ross acted out of self-defense, alleging Good was impeding federal law enforcement.—
Amie Parnes,
The Hill,
18 Jan. 2026
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His observations about the barbarity of women’s beauty regimens aren’t exactly new, but they are acted out with enthusiasm and verve.—
Bethy Squires,
Vulture,
16 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Her voice is intimate and resonant, whether cut up into indistinct background flurries or pushed to the front of the mix.—
Alex Robert Ross,
Pitchfork,
13 Feb. 2026
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Such a potato is cut up into sections, each having a sprout or two.—
David Beaulieu,
The Spruce,
9 Feb. 2026
Verb
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After Reaves scored, Kennard showed off his passing skills, finding Jarred Vanderbilt under the basket for a dunk.—
Broderick Turner,
Los Angeles Times,
8 Feb. 2026
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Jones dressed sportily for the occasion in a white zip-up, puffy athletic jacket with a short crop that showed off a bit of her midriff in between a long, white flowing skirt that gathered high in the front.—
Steven J. Horowitz,
Variety,
8 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Hours after the shooting, Noem defended the ICE officer who shot Good, saying the woman had blocked federal officers with her SUV and disobeyed orders to get out of her vehicle.—
Juliana Kim,
NPR,
9 Jan. 2026
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One aviation expert argued that IndiGo not only disobeyed the regulations, but also increased its domestic flights without increasing crew and pilots.—
semafor.com,
semafor.com,
8 Dec. 2025
Verb
-
His children and grandchildren have carried on that legacy ever since.—
Veronica Ortega,
CBS News,
8 Feb. 2026
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The West Africa branch, for instance, has carried on as usual.—
E. Tammy Kim,
New Yorker,
26 Jan. 2026
Verb
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The end of the prohibition came earlier than originally planned as a group of moderate Republicans rebelled against leadership in September, winning a concession to shorten the length of the pause by two months.—
Jared Gans,
The Hill,
22 Jan. 2026
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In Spanish Santo Domingo, the first slave society in the Americas, Africans on a sugar plantation owned by Christopher Columbus’s son rebelled on Christmas Day 1521.—
Laurent Dubois,
The Atlantic,
6 Jan. 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 15 Feb. 2026.
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