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
Relevance
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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
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
-
Like other states around the country, Tennessee was closing its public psychiatric hospitals, and mentally ill people who acted out were simply being jailed.—
James Verini,
New Yorker,
2 Mar. 2026
-
Administration officials have argued Ross acted out of self-defense, alleging Good was impeding federal law enforcement.—
Amie Parnes,
The Hill,
18 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
At one point, a member of the Revolutionary Guard came over to cut up Khamenei’s breakfast meat.—
Robin Wright,
New Yorker,
1 Mar. 2026
-
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
Verb
-
Embroidered black flowers and vines on the jacket added a dash of Goth, while the cropped trousers showed off a pair of suede kitten-heel boots.—
Sandra Salibian,
Footwear News,
2 Mar. 2026
-
Adam Brody showed off the elegant Cartier Tank à Guichets that debuted at Watches and Wonders last year.—
Rachel Cormack,
Robb Report,
2 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
In one story, the king, Hiranyakashipu, ordered everyone in his kingdom to worship him and was irked when his own son Prahlad, a devotee of Lord Vishnu, disobeyed his command.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
3 Mar. 2026
-
In the internal report, an ICE agent wrote that Martinez appeared intoxicated or impaired and disobeyed verbal instructions to stop and exit his vehicle.—
Bayliss Wagner,
San Antonio Express-News,
22 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
At the same time, as images of first strikes on the UAE started to circulate Saturday, the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships carried on as scheduled with finals, although a number of players are now stuck in the country waiting for flights to resume.—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
2 Mar. 2026
-
Red Wings games are expected to be carried on FanDuel Sports Detroit through the end of the season.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
2 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
The Laughing Storm rebelled against the crown, but the short rebellion came to an end after Dunk and Lyonel engaged in single combat with Dunk emerging victorious.—
James Grebey,
Vulture,
23 Feb. 2026
-
The neighborhood, including Northwest Bronx, rebelled, pointing out that mall jobs paid little, small businesses would be crushed, and profits would be siphoned away to national corporations.—
Justin Davidson,
Curbed,
10 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
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
-
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
-
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 7 Mar. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
