different between act vs achieve
act
English
Etymology
From Middle English acte, from Old French acte, from Latin ?cta (“register of events”), plural of ?ctum (“decree, law”), from ag? (“put in motion”). Compare German Akte (“file”). Partially displaced deed, from Old English d?d (“act, deed”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ækt/
- (AAVE) IPA(key): /æk/
- Rhymes: -ækt
Noun
act (countable and uncountable, plural acts)
- (countable) Something done, a deed.
- 1798, William Wordsworth, Lines
- That best portion of a good man's life, / His little, nameless, unremembered acts / Of kindness and of love.
- 1798, William Wordsworth, Lines
- (obsolete, uncountable) Actuality.
- 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie
- The seeds of plants are not at first in act, but in possibility, what they afterward grow to be.
- 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie
- (theology) Something done once and for all, as distinguished from a work.
- (countable) A product of a legislative body, a statute.
- The process of doing something.
- (countable) A formal or official record of something done.
- (countable, drama) A division of a theatrical performance.
- (countable) A performer or performers in a show.
- (countable) Any organized activity.
- (countable) A display of behaviour.
- A thesis maintained in public, in some English universities, by a candidate for a degree, or to show the proficiency of a student.
- (countable) A display of behaviour meant to deceive.
- to put on an act
Synonyms
- (something done): deed; see also Thesaurus:action
- (product of a legislative body): statute
- (display of behavior): pretense
Meronyms
- (drama): scene
Holonyms
- (drama): play
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
Verb
act (third-person singular simple present acts, present participle acting, simple past and past participle acted)
- (intransitive) To do something.
- (obsolete, transitive) To do (something); to perform.
- 1650, Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living, Purity of Intention
- that we act our temporal affairs with a desire no greater than our necessity
- a. 1677, Isaac Barrow, Of Industry in General (sermon)
- Industry doth beget by producing good habits, and facility of acting things expedient for us to do.
- 1782, William Cowper, Expostulation
- Uplifted hands that at convenient times / Could act extortion and the worst of crimes.
- 1650, Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living, Purity of Intention
- (intransitive) To perform a theatrical role.
- (intransitive) Of a play: to be acted out (well or badly).
- (intransitive) To behave in a certain manner for an indefinite length of time.
- (copulative) To convey an appearance of being.
- (intransitive) To do something that causes a change binding on the doer.
- (intransitive, construed with on or upon) To have an effect (on).
- (transitive) To play (a role).
- (transitive) To feign.
- With acted fear the villain thus pursued.
- (mathematics, intransitive, construed with on or upon, of a group) To map via a homomorphism to a group of automorphisms (of).
- (obsolete, transitive) To move to action; to actuate; to animate.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
Anagrams
- ATC, CAT, CTA, Cat, TAC, TCA, cat, tac
Middle English
Noun
act
- Alternative form of acte
Old Irish
Conjunction
act
- Alternative spelling of acht (“but”)
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from French acte, from Latin actus.
Noun
act n (plural acte)
- act, deed, action
Related terms
- ac?iune
See also
- fapt, fapt?
- lucru
Further reading
- act in DEX online - Dic?ionare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)
Scots
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ak(t)/
Noun
act (plural acts)
- an act
Verb
act (third-person singular present acts, present participle actin, past actit, past participle actit)
- act
- enact
- decree
References
- Eagle, Andy, ed. (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary, Scots Online.
Welsh
Etymology
From English act.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /akt/
Noun
act f (plural actau)
- act
Derived terms
- Actau'r Apostolion (“Acts of the Apostles”)
- actio (“to act”)
- actor (“actor”)
- actores (“actress”)
Mutation
Further reading
- R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present) , “act”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
act From the web:
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achieve
English
Alternative forms
- atchieve (obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle English achieven, acheven, from Anglo-Norman achever, Old French achever, achiever et al., apparently from Late Latin *accapp?re, present active infinitive of *accapp?, from ad (“to”) + caput (“head”) + -? (verbal suffix), or alternatively a construction based on Old French chief (“head”). Compare Catalan, Occitan, Portuguese and Spanish acabar, French achever.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /??t?i?v/
- Rhymes: -i?v
Verb
achieve (third-person singular simple present achieves, present participle achieving, simple past and past participle achieved)
- (intransitive) To succeed in something, now especially in academic performance. [from 14th c.]
- (transitive) To carry out successfully; to accomplish. [from 14th c.]
- 1832, Isaac Taylor, Saturday Evening
- Supposing faculties and powers to be the same, far more may be achieved in any line by the aid of a capital, invigorating motive than without it.
- 1832, Isaac Taylor, Saturday Evening
- (obsolete, transitive) To conclude, finish, especially successfully. [14th-18th c.]
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.1:
- Full many Countreyes they did overronne, / From the uprising to the setting Sunne, / And many hard adventures did atchieve […]
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.1:
- (transitive) To obtain, or gain (a desired result, objective etc.), as the result of exertion; to succeed in gaining; to win. [from 14th c.]
- c. 1601-1602, William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, II-v
- Some are born great, some achieve greatness.
- c. 1601-1602, William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, II-v
- (obsolete, intransitive) To conclude, to turn out. [14th-16th c.]
- (transitive, now literary) To obtain (a material thing). [from 15th c.]
- 1700, Matthew Prior, Carmen Seculare. for the Year 1700
- Show all the spoils by valiant kings achieved.
- c. 1603-1604, William Shakespeare, Othello, II-i
- He hath achieved a maid / That paragons description.
Synonyms
- accomplish, effect, fulfil, fulfill, complete, execute, perform, realize, obtain. See accomplish
Derived terms
- achievable
- achievement
- achiever
- overachieve
- underachieve
Translations
Further reading
- achieve at OneLook Dictionary Search
- achieve in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
achieve From the web:
- what achievement are you most proud of
- what achievement means
- what achievements characterize the beginning of civilization
- what achievements did the aztecs have
- what achievement is charlemagne most remembered for
- what achievements did the mayans have
- what achievements did the mycenaeans make
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