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
Traditional methods might overlook the quiet student who won’t ask for help or the struggling reader who acts out to hide their difficulty grasping the words.
—
Haozhen Yang, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2025
So Kiritsis, while his plan is undeniably wacked, is still someone who’s been backed into a corner and is acting out of a fury that has justifiably boiled over.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 2 Sep. 2025
Sitting with the challenges that have shaped us, far from something negative, teaches us to notice when we are spurred to act out of scarcity and fear.
—Big Think, 1 Sep. 2025
Hank, in attempting to save himself, starts to act out a stereotype of his own, the Western loner who presumes to take on a hero’s mantle.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 28 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for act out
Haozhen Yang, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2025
So Kiritsis, while his plan is undeniably wacked, is still someone who’s been backed into a corner and is acting out of a fury that has justifiably boiled over.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 2 Sep. 2025
Sitting with the challenges that have shaped us, far from something negative, teaches us to notice when we are spurred to act out of scarcity and fear.
—Big Think, 1 Sep. 2025
Hank, in attempting to save himself, starts to act out a stereotype of his own, the Western loner who presumes to take on a hero’s mantle.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 28 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for act out
Recent Examples of Synonyms for act out
Verb
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Hamas has called on residents of Gaza City to disobey the evacuation order.—
Brady Knox,
The Washington Examiner,
8 Sep. 2025
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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
Verb
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Chase Brown averaged just 2 yards per carry on 21 rushes.—
Paul Dehner Jr,
New York Times,
8 Sep. 2025
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Jacir recounts how unexpected events carried on into post-production, which was mainly done in the UK.—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
8 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Johnson, who struggles with a neuroma, swears by her Oofos mules to keep it from acting up.—
Jennifer Heimlich,
SELF,
29 Aug. 2025
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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
Verb
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Qi is more interested in how Chuan’s motherhood is affected — and what happens when Hsiao-Lee is confident enough to rebel against her mom.—
Adam Solomons,
IndieWire,
4 Sep. 2025
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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
Cite this Entry
“Act out.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/act%20out. Accessed 16 Sep. 2025.
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