act out

verb

acted out; acting out; acts 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)

Synonyms

• act up
• carry on
• misbehave

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 on the Web

The Selzer poll has been viewed as evidence that pollsters calling the race a dead heat have been acting out of a desire to seek safety in numbers following the shock 2016 election result that failed to spot latent support for Trump. —Christiaan Hetzner, Fortune, 5 Nov. 2024

The trial ended with two deadlocked juries, unable to agree on whether the brothers were guilty of murder or acted out of fear. —Gordon G. Chang, Newsweek, 31 Oct. 2024

Letting your emotions rule and acting out of instinct will tempt you when patience is required to avoid a costly mistake. —Eugenia Last, The Mercury News, 30 Oct. 2024

For some reason, the Joker represented rebellion and madness to them in a way that a crazy guy who literally was the one being Joker and doing all the murders and acting out of line in court does not. —Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 4 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1616, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

Kids Definition

act out

verb

1

: to represent in action

children act out what they read

2

: to behave badly especially as a way of letting out painful emotions

Medical Definition

act out

transitive verb

(ˈ)akt-ˈau̇t 

: 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)