Word.ws English Dictionary

acted

/ˈæk.tɪd/

acted is the simple past and past participle of act.

Meaning of act

Verb

act (third-person singular simple present acts, present participle acting, simple past and past participle acted)

  1. (intransitive) To do something.
    • If you don’t act soon, you will be in trouble.
  2. (obsolete, transitive) To do (something); to perform.
    • that we act our temporal affairs with a deſire no greater than our neceſſity1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, “Signes of Purity of Intention”, in The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC, page 23
  3. (intransitive) To perform a theatrical role.
    • I started acting at the age of eleven in my local theatre.
  4. (intransitive) Of a play: to be acted out (well or badly).
    • But whatever types he assumes, the need to have a good play which acts delightfully well before the audience, and to their delectation, is the dominant thrust. If the play acts well, the director gets the credits.2011, Effiong Johnson, Play Production Processes, page 180
  5. (intransitive) To behave in a certain manner for an indefinite length of time.
    • A dog which acts aggressively is likely to bite.
  6. (copulative) To convey an appearance of being.
    • He acted unconcerned so the others wouldn’t worry.

See all 30 meanings of act

Phrases with acted

9 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about acted

What is acted the simple past and past participle of?
Acted is the simple past and past participle of act.
How do you pronounce acted?
Acted is pronounced /ˈæk.tɪd/.

Words near acted in the dictionary

  1. actaplanin
  2. actarit
  3. actative
  4. acte clair
  5. acte gratuit
  6. acted
  7. acted a fool
  8. acted charade
  9. acted charades
  10. acted chicken
  11. acted on

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: acted (page history and authors); act (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-acted.ogg.

Cite this entry: “acted.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/acted. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.