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
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By the third period, with his nose cut up, Kesselring was on the ice in the final minute of the game, helping to get it to overtime.—
Matthew Fairburn,
New York Times,
17 Jan. 2026
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To meet that goal, the grantmaker will cut up to 500 of its 2,375 staff positions by 2030, including some open roles that may remain unfilled.—
Stephanie Beasley,
Fortune,
14 Jan. 2026
Verb
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That’s the fun discovery meteorologist Jennifer McDermed showed off in a post on X last week, amid severe winter weather across much of the country.—
Adam Carlson,
PEOPLE,
25 Jan. 2026
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This past week, Sophie Turner made headlines after Amazon showed off her look as Lara Croft in its upcoming Tomb Raider series, the result of classic costuming and apparently eight-hour-a-day workouts, according to the actress.—
Paul Tassi,
Forbes.com,
24 Jan. 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
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The West Africa branch, for instance, has carried on as usual.—
E. Tammy Kim,
New Yorker,
26 Jan. 2026
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The trend carried on into the second quarter, as sophomore Will Palmer drilled a three-pointer with five minutes to play in the half as the Skippers constructed a 30-20 lead.—
Brendan Connelly,
Boston Herald,
24 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 1 Feb. 2026.
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