as in to raise hell
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
The negative emotionality is over a long period of time to get them to a breaking point to act out.
—
Amanda Lee Myers, USA Today, 20 July 2025
The first game was charades, where the audience had to act out the word for Jin to guess.
—Laura Sirikul, Forbes.com, 19 July 2025
These first signs, Pfeffer said, include constipation, a loss of smell and REM sleep behavior disorder, a condition in which people act out their dreams while sleeping.
—Ian Randall, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 July 2025
Last summer, large groups of teens acted out downtown; some attacked innocent people and destroyed property.
—Chicago Tribune, 24 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for act out
Amanda Lee Myers, USA Today, 20 July 2025
The first game was charades, where the audience had to act out the word for Jin to guess.
—Laura Sirikul, Forbes.com, 19 July 2025
These first signs, Pfeffer said, include constipation, a loss of smell and REM sleep behavior disorder, a condition in which people act out their dreams while sleeping.
—Ian Randall, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 July 2025
Last summer, large groups of teens acted out downtown; some attacked innocent people and destroyed property.
—Chicago Tribune, 24 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for act out
Recent Examples of Synonyms for act out
Verb
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Yet, shortly after the district court granted plaintiffs' emergency motion for a temporary restraining order, defendants appear to have disobeyed it.—
Peter Charalambous,
ABC News,
8 Aug. 2025
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That is not one, but two Cleons on the run, while the one remaining Cleon is already disobeying Demerzel and is way too close to the Foundation Ambassador (and there’s the whole thing of him being put down in a few days).—
Rafael Motamayor,
Vulture,
1 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Because of blood revenge, there were not many men left, so then a girl was chosen to carry on a male identity.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
7 Aug. 2025
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Many still wonder why he was permitted to carry on with his crimes for so long, whether other people who were complicit in them have escaped justice, and how much President Trump may have known while the two were friends.—
Kaitlyn Tiffany,
The Atlantic,
7 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Millennials are all about heading to the doctor’s office when their guts start acting up—and both experts agreed that’s a positive thing.—
Alisa Hrustic,
Health,
29 July 2025
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Just in time for the big opening, Charlotte’s vertigo starts acting up.—
Maggie Fremont,
Vulture,
18 July 2025
Verb
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Spark’s love of high style surely rebelled against the austerity of Protestantism, both in worship and creed.—
Judith Shulevitz,
The Atlantic,
10 Aug. 2025
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George Washington led troops in the American Revolution and stands for the birth of a representative democracy after rebelling against Britain’s monarchy.—
Lisa Meyers McClintick,
USA Today,
21 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Act out.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/act%20out. Accessed 20 Aug. 2025.
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