act out

verb

|Updated on: 24 Jun 2018

Examples: act out in a Sentence

Definition of act out

transitive verb

1 a : to represent in action

children act out what they read

b : to translate into action

unwilling to act out their beliefs

2 : to express (something, such as an impulse or a fantasy) directly in overt behavior without modification to comply with social norms

intransitive verb

: to behave badly or in a socially unacceptable often self-defeating manner especially as a means of venting painful emotions (such as fear or frustration)

See act out defined for kids

Examples of act out in a Sentence

because his parents spent so much time with his chronically ill sister, the boy resorted to acting out in order to get attention

Recent Examples of act out from the Web

The lawsuit said the poor conditions, frequent physical searches and verbal abuse by staff often escalated into confrontations, as the frustrated children acted out.

— michael biesecker, chicagotribune.com, "Beatings, bags over their heads, racial slurs: Young migrants detained in Virginia allege abuse in lawsuit," 21 June 2018
The lawsuit said the poor conditions, frequent physical searches and verbal abuse by staff often escalated into confrontations, as the frustrated children acted out.

— michael biesecker, BostonGlobe.com, "Young immigrants detained in Virginia center allege abuse," 21 June 2018
The Waukegan middle and high school students dropped to the floor to await the next prompt — to act out a broken robot, an angry statue or a famous tap dancer.

— emily k. coleman, Lake County News-Sun, "Beacon Place expands into new two-story building in Waukegan," 19 June 2018
It was later revealed that Boucher hadn’t acted out of any sort of political motivation but because of a long-simmering feud between the two middle-aged men over yard work.

— gabriella paiella, The Cut, "New, Insanely Petty Details Emerge About Rand Paul’s Yard Work Drama," 12 June 2018
About half an hour into Ali Wong’s new Netflix special , the comedian, extremely pregnant with her second child, spends almost a full minute describing and acting out the sound of her friend queefing.

— Vogue, "Ali Wong: Hard Knock Wife," 11 May 2018
Green: The school board’s role in preventing school shootings is to ensure teachers and administrators are trained to stay engaged with students and recognize when there may be issues that might be causing a student to feel like acting out.

— tyler langan, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Falls School Board candidates cite school safety as top issue," 13 Mar. 2018
The video game industry, which has found itself under the political microscope once again in 2018, is bracing for further scrutiny with the pending release of a title that lets players act out the role of a school shooter.

— chris morris, Fortune, "Upcoming Video Game Lets You Play as a School Shooter," 24 May 2018
Often, children of veterans who act out at school or at home may be channeling frustrations, or experiencing their own depression or anxiety.

— Daily Intelligencer, "This Unique Approach to Veteran Wellness Puts Family First," 24 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'act out.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of act out

circa 1616

in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

act out Synonyms

Phrases

raise Cain (or raise hell), run riot;

Medical Dictionary

act out

transitive verb \ (ˈ)akt-ˈau̇t \

medical Definition of act out

: to express (as an impulse or a fantasy) directly in overt behavior without modification to comply with social norms

act out an adolescent fantasy

intransitive verb

: to behave badly or in a socially unacceptable often self-defeating manner especially as a means of venting painful emotions (as fear or frustration)