different between act vs overcome

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)

1. (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.

2. (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.

3. (theology) Something done once and for all, as distinguished from a work.
4. (countable) A product of a legislative body, a statute.
5. The process of doing something.

6. (countable) A formal or official record of something done.
7. (countable, drama) A division of a theatrical performance.

8. (countable) A performer or performers in a show.

9. (countable) Any organized activity.
10. (countable) A display of behaviour.
11. A thesis maintained in public, in some English universities, by a candidate for a degree, or to show the proficiency of a student.
12. (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)

1. (intransitive) To do something.

2. (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.

3. (intransitive) To perform a theatrical role.

4. (intransitive) Of a play: to be acted out (well or badly).
5. (intransitive) To behave in a certain manner for an indefinite length of time.

6. (copulative) To convey an appearance of being.

7. (intransitive) To do something that causes a change binding on the doer.

8. (intransitive, construed with on or upon) To have an effect (on).

9. (transitive) To play (a role).

10. (transitive) To feign.

    • With acted fear the villain thus pursued.

11. (mathematics, intransitive, construed with on or upon, of a group) To map via a homomorphism to a group of automorphisms (of).

12. (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

1. Alternative form of acte

Old Irish

Conjunction

act

1. Alternative spelling of acht (“but”)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French acte, from Latin actus.

Noun

act n (plural acte)

1. 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)

1. an act

Verb

act (third-person singular present acts, present participle actin, past actit, past participle actit)

1. act
2. enact
3. 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)

1. 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

English

Etymology

From Middle English overcomen, from Old English ofercuman (“to overcome, subdue, compel, conquer, obtain, attain, reach, overtake”), corresponding to over- +? come. Cognate with Dutch overkomen (“to overcome”), German überkommen (“to overcome”), Danish overkomme (“to overcome”), Swedish överkomma (“to overcome”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???v??k?m/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?o?v???k?m/

Verb

overcome (third-person singular simple present overcomes, present participle overcoming, simple past overcame, past participle overcome)

1. (transitive) To surmount (a physical or abstract obstacle); to prevail over, to get the better of.

   to overcome enemies in battle

   • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, Ch. 4:

     By and by fumes of brandy began to fill the air, and climb to where I lay, overcoming the mouldy smell of decayed wood and the dampness of the green walls.

2. (transitive) To win or prevail in some sort of battle, contest, etc.
3. To come or pass over; to spread over.
4. To overflow; to surcharge.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of J. Philips to this entry?)

Translations

Noun

overcome (plural overcomes)

1. (Scotland) The burden or recurring theme in a song.
2. (Scotland) A surplus.

References

• overcome in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• overcome in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• come over, come-over, comeover