1
as in to act 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 to 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 act up
Floral and spicy notes bring to mind a meadow in full bloom (without making your allergies act up, thankfully).
—
Danielle Sinay, Glamour, 28 May 2025
Clarke Schmidt’s back acted up, and then his shoulder.
—Brendan Kuty, The Athletic, 25 Mar. 2025
Is his palm injury acting up again, or the pressure to join the elite company of Jack Nicklaus, who won 3 times at The PLAYERS Championship?
—Mark Davis, Newsweek, 16 Mar. 2025
Mount Spurr, located about 75 miles West of Anchorage, has been acting up in recent weeks, prompting officials at the U.S. Geological Survey and Alaska Volcano Observatory to issue a yellow alert.
—Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA TODAY, 14 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for act up
Danielle Sinay, Glamour, 28 May 2025
Clarke Schmidt’s back acted up, and then his shoulder.
—Brendan Kuty, The Athletic, 25 Mar. 2025
Is his palm injury acting up again, or the pressure to join the elite company of Jack Nicklaus, who won 3 times at The PLAYERS Championship?
—Mark Davis, Newsweek, 16 Mar. 2025
Mount Spurr, located about 75 miles West of Anchorage, has been acting up in recent weeks, prompting officials at the U.S. Geological Survey and Alaska Volcano Observatory to issue a yellow alert.
—Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA TODAY, 14 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for act up
Recent Examples of Synonyms for act up
Verb
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Dennis is often seen playing it as a way of acting out his manipulative tendencies toward actual human beings, and Dennis and Roman also go to a Hollywood party as Sims.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
4 Sep. 2025
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Despite their language barrier, Costner did his best to talk to the tribe about buffalo, acting out how the animal would behave.—
Angel Saunders,
People.com,
3 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Born Drew Desbordes, Druski, 30, is a long way from the kid who spent his time at the dinner table cutting up.—
CT Jones,
Rolling Stone,
4 Sep. 2025
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Nobody wants to get their hands cut up by a downward moving blade.—
Vilius Kavaliauskas,
Forbes.com,
3 Sep. 2025
Verb
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But outgoing Milwaukee Symphony Music Director Ken-David Masur has packed his concluding season here with major choral works to show off the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus in its 50th year.—
Jim Higgins,
jsonline.com,
5 Sep. 2025
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There will be an array of events the weekend of September 26 to 28 at the Joseph—from a cooking class led by Top Chef champ Mei Lin to wine tastings to a cocktail mixology course—with the tentpoles being a pair of dinners that will show off very different styles of cooking.—
Nicole Hoey,
Robb Report,
4 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Running or horsing around with sparklers can also cause injuries and burns when users trip and fall.—
Justin Laube,
EverydayHealth.com,
2 July 2025
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Heath Ryan, who represented Australia in dressage at the 2008 Olympics, can be seen in the video – which the rider said is about two years old – hitting a horse around 40 times.—
Matias Grez,
CNN Money,
13 June 2025
Verb
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Fischer faces charges of first-degree reckless endangerment, interfering with an officer, reckless driving, disobeying traffic control signals, failure to drive in the proper lane, disobeying the signal of an officer, failure to display plates and engaging police in a pursuit.—
Justin Muszynski,
Hartford Courant,
18 Aug. 2025
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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
Verb
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Many patients often hear multiple voices carrying on a conversation about them.—
Kristen Rogers,
CNN Money,
2 Sep. 2025
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That said, the Browns are now heading into the 2025 NFL season with Ford set to take the load of the carries on the ground.—
James Brizuela,
MSNBC Newsweek,
2 Sep. 2025
Verb
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An essay in The Dartmouth Review argues that the toga parties (based very much on truth) represented students from Miller's generation rebelling against conformity.—
Jordan Hoffman,
EW.com,
1 Sep. 2025
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Trump then walked back that threat after markets rebelled, and instead began critiquing Powell’s management of the Federal Reserve more widely—recently targeting its office renovations.—
Eleanor Pringle,
Fortune,
29 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Act up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/act%20up. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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