ACT


Meaning of ACT in English

I. noun

COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a criminal offence/act (= a crime )

Cruelty to animals is a criminal offence.

a lawyer acts for/defends/represents sb

a group of lawyers who represent the airline

a novelty act (= a performance that is unusual and different )

Mike Michaels the Mechanical Magician was one of the best novelty acts I've seen.

a symbolic act

Lighting the Olympic flame is a symbolic act.

a teaching/acting/sporting career

Her acting career lasted for more than 50 years.

a terrorist attack/bombing/act

More than 50 people were injured in the terrorist attack.

act as a catalyst

They hope his election will act as a catalyst for reform.

act as a consultant (= be a consultant on a particular project )

He acted as a historical consultant on the film.

act as an incentive (= be an incentive )

The chance of promotion acts as an incentive for many employees.

act as...a deterrent

The small fines for this type of crime do not act as much of a deterrent .

act decisively

Yet again, we have failed to act decisively .

act for/on behalf of a client

The lawyer will write confirming that he agrees to act for his client.

act of aggression

an unprovoked act of aggression

act of worship (= religious ceremony )

We were invited to join in their act of worship .

act on an impulse (= do something because you have a sudden desire to do it )

Acting on an impulse, he decided to visit his sister.

act your age (= behave in the way that a person of your age should behave )

It’s time he started acting his age.

act/behave responsibly

Can I rely on you to behave responsibly while I’m away?

acted as...intermediary

Jackson acted as an intermediary between the two parties.

acted deceitfully

His lawyer argued that his client had not acted deceitfully .

acted in good faith

The company had acted in good faith .

acted on...own initiative (= he was not told what to do )

Lt. Carlos was not obeying orders. He acted on his own initiative .

act/gesture of defiance

Running away was an act of defiance against his parents.

acting ability

Her acting abilities were obvious straightaway.

acting as agents

We’re acting as agents for Mr Watson.

acting in bad faith

In order to sue, you have to prove that the company was acting in bad faith .

acting suspiciously

He saw two youths acting suspiciously .

act/perform/appear in a play

She acted in many plays on the London stage.

acts as camouflage

The whiteness of the arctic fox acts as camouflage , hiding it from its enemies.

acts of generosity

acts of sabotage

The terrorists were planning acts of sabotage to destabilize the country.

act/serve as a go-between

A UN representative will act as a go-between for leaders of the two countries.

an act of parliament (= a law that has been passed by parliament )

Their rights are guaranteed by Act of Parliament.

an act of revenge

The men were shot dead in an act of revenge for Khan’s assassination.

an act of terrorism

The prosecution alleged that the men had been responsible for many acts of terrorism.

an act of violence

Police warned that acts of violence would not be tolerated.

an illegal act

Driving without insurance is an illegal act.

balancing act

Gilmore had to perform the difficult balancing act of attracting moderate voters without losing his Conservative base.

catch sb in the act (of doing sth) (= catch someone while they are doing something illegal )

The gang was caught in the act of unloading the cigarettes.

circus act (= a trick performed in a circus )

commit an act of violence/terrorism/aggression etc

Anyone committing an act of terrorism will be severely punished.

despicable act

a despicable act of terrorism

double act

film/acting/directorial etc debut

His Broadway debut was ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’.

get in on the act (= become involved in something exciting or interesting )

The scheme has proved very successful, and now other local authorities are keen to get in on the act .

pass a law/bill/act

The first Transport Act was passed in 1907.

prosecute sb under a law/Act etc

The company is to be prosecuted under the Health and Safety Act.

provocative act

a provocative act by a terrorist group

serve as/act as a reminder (= be a reminder )

The photograph will serve as a lovely reminder of your visit.

stay/act within the law (= not do illegal things )

The security forces must act within the law.

violent acts/behaviour

His dad terrified them all with his violent behaviour.

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ ADJECTIVE

criminal

They chose to attract public attention and demonstrate contradictions in justice and the law by criminal acts .

I am ashamed to think that you believe me capable of such a shameful and criminal act .

Slaughtering of this magnitude is nothing short of a criminal act , indicating incompetence in policy and management chaos.

Interception of cell phone calls has been a criminal act since 1986, when those devices were included in federal wiretap statutes.

A further difficulty is the impossibility of including all criminal acts in a questionnaire or interview.

The show uses video surveillance footage, interviews and re-enactments to focus on lamebrain criminal acts .

Which means that you witnessed a criminal act however willing she was.

Nevertheless, they do occur and occasional assaults and other criminal acts are committed.

double

The act now took the form of a double act.

The reason for this double act becomes obvious the minute you set off.

It could have been an interesting double act but it was bunkered immediately by all the showbiz flannel.

Bill used to be half of a double act with Dave Allen.

They make a good double act in the Treasury team, where she is shadow Chief Secretary.

And brimming with fun in bowler hats, the visitors raised more smiles than Downing Street's double act .

Thankfully, the engine and gearbox make a great double act .

final

Mellor's resignation was the final act in a drama running since July, when his romance with Antonia was exposed.

In the final act Ricardo confronts his son with his horrible crimes.

Looking down he saw the final fearful act of that day.

The final act takes place in the square in front of Westminster Bridge.

One of his final acts was to take Britain's Nigel Mansell from Williams.

The final act was its dissolution.

This was her final act of spite, to take the piece and leave Paige to face the consequences.

Creed preceded the final act , the Red Hot Chili Peppers, on the east stage.

hard

A hard act to follow, but its stars are confident that the small screen version will prove just as popular.

Clearly Amelia was a hard act to follow.

It was a hard act to follow, but the poor did what they could to provide respectable funerals for their dead.

John's is, of course, a hard act to follow.

There is no question that Mr Brown's will be an exceedingly hard act to follow.

You've certainly set us a hard act to follow!

A hard act to swallow ... Dangerous Dan and his latest flame.

Colm Toibin's piece will be a hard act to follow but I suspect you are up to it.

illegal

The initial founding of a squatter settlement is, itself, an illegal act and, therefore, a challenge to authority.

State action to prevent illegal and unauthorised acts of local authorities.

The raid was an illegal act , without any authorisation by the United Nations.

simple

One which caused trouble was the simple act of opening a window.

By the simple act of hiding the desk something is clearly said about teaching and learning.

The simple act of giving up a sedentary occupation brought about the improved the state of health.

A simple act , maybe, but it changed the rules of engagement for ever.

Why is it that the simple act of purchasing something can often be hell?

New energy and resolve erupted from the simple act of moving their tiny toys out of doors!

Even the simple act of observing a sleeper normally requires forgoing sleep oneself.

But just the simple act of leafing through and talking about a book can help.

symbolic

The deeply symbolic ritual act of treading the earth affirms the relationship of human beings to their native soil.

It was as though that one, symbolic act gave him permission to live his life his way.

Yet there could be no more symbolic act of defiance than a currency with a separate exchange rate against the rouble.

The wearing of an armband to express certain views is the kind of symbolic act protected by that amendment.

The symbolic act could not have been more significant.

unlawful

There are two types of crime which will not suffice as the unlawful act: crimes of negligence and crimes of omission.

Possessing a knife was not perse an unlawful act under the Prevention of Crime Act 1953, s.1.

Where there is no unlawful act , there is no unlawful act manslaughter.

The unlawful act was arson, and he was reckless as to the risk of injury.

The requirement of mens rea for unlawful act manslaughter may be easily satisfied.

If the accused kills by fire, the unlawful act is arson.

A lawful act such as a killing in self-defence is not an unlawful act for this purpose.

violent

We have, therefore to consider these other aspects of violent acts .

Ultimately the batterer is himself tricked by his lustful appetite, and his violent acts inevitably escalate.

Outrage at the injustices erupted in violent acts .

By contrast, 1 percent of Channel 4 programmes contained violence, with an average frequency of one violent act per hour.

Men were twice as likely as women to perceive those violent acts as improving the relationship.

Police departments are accustomed to an increase in violent acts when the moon is fall.

■ NOUN

class

But DataEase is definitely a class act that deserves its position.

That was a class act to come in and ask.

I doubt that she is much like the real Gertrude Lawrence but she is decidedly a class act .

Running back Emmitt Smith is a class act and quarterback Troy Aikman is cool, tough and dignified.

Stewart rates Gascoigne and Beardsley as the top class acts of the hundreds he appeared with at club level.

Trenches Throughout everything, the divisions of class act as trenches as surely as those dug by the soldiers.

They looked a class act and for once came away with a result to match.

You're going to be a class act as Prime Minister, really you are.

riot

Nearly all gone now, worse luck, and the guv'nor's arrived to read the riot act .

One approach was to read these young people the riot act and let them repent or retreat.

Afterwards, Waziri would read the riot act in Kinyankole, the smoke from the matooke grates swirling behind him.

He then proceeded to read the riot act to his headstrong brother.

After reining in the regional barons and tackling the business oligarchs, Mr Putin read the riot act to the generals.

What good were riot acts being read?

speech

In fact, he suggests that speech act theory and deconstruction complement, rather than contradict, each other.

Students of literature who are sympathetic to, and at least partially acquainted with, speech act theory should find the arguments stimulating.

Even resistant readers will find much informative discussion of speech act theory and related matters.

An approach which tries to formulate how such knowledge is brought into play is speech act theory.

Could speech act theory have helped them decide?

This lack of explicitness will surely limit the significance of the book for researchers working in speech act theory and related fields.

Of course, there is no reason why a book on speech act theory should discuss alternative approaches at all.

■ VERB

balance

But it's a crucial balancing act where you have to prioritise on a daily basis.

Using political power to reduce market inequalities requires a high-wire balancing act .

This is a delicate balancing act for Mr Carr, however.

Now that balancing act has become more precarious than ever.

This is a tricky balancing act .

President Clinton called attention to the broader issues with his veto of the balanced budget act .

This meeting, he realized, was part of some kind of good cop, bad cop balancing act Giuliani was encouraging.

That's a balancing act that few southwestern cities have managed -- as Tucson's crumbling streets and contaminated wells attest.

clean

More recently Lou has cleaned up his act and started setting the world to rights.

Citibank insists it has cleaned up its act .

The industry was effectively warned to clean up its act or face legislation.

Naming and shaming remains an option should the company not clean up its act .

But he eventually sees their potential and cleans up his act just in time.

Despite Mr Haider's grandiose, unbelievable last-minute pledges to clean up his act , there should be no wavering.

Drivers whose vehicles give off more poisonous chemicals than are allowed have ten days to clean up their act .

Legislation aimed at forcing the power firms to clean up their act is being fought tooth and nail by the polluters.

commit

It is often said that an assault can be committed only by an act and that an omission is not sufficient.

For a submariner, he had committed a grievous act -- mixing alcohol with duty.

Now that the partisans were well organized in the Province of Parma they committed many acts of sabotage.

What is the price tag for keeping decent, nonviolent people from having to commit the very act that Davis committed?

The offence would be committed by a single act of distribution, and the recipient may be a single person.

He was eventually convicted of committing an injurious act , a misdemeanor, police said.

The Court of Appeal allowed the appellant's appeal against conviction of committing an act of gross indecency.

The appellant, Norman Mattison, was charged with committing an act of gross indecency with his co-defendant.

follow

A hard act to follow , but its stars are confident that the small screen version will prove just as popular.

Clearly Amelia was a hard act to follow .

I know that she will be a tough act to follow .

Congress got in the act in the following years, lending the academy $ 255, 000 to expand the dairy.

It was a hard act to follow , but the poor did what they could to provide respectable funerals for their dead.

Under the best of circumstances, Weiss' Marat-Sade is a difficult two acts to follow .

John's is, of course, a hard act to follow .

There is no question that Mr Brown's will be an exceedingly hard act to follow .

pass

Once Parliament has passed an act , it becomes the law of the land.

At the same time, Congress passed an act reducing tariff rates.

She passed several acts to make legal strikes all but impossible, and to imprison her opponents at will.

perform

Its purpose Augean - no less than to perform an act of reparation for the sins of students everywhere.

He was like a robot kitchen helper, he sometimes thought, who performed acts without understanding what he was doing.

There's always a reason why a person performs the murder act .

Kronos performs an equally strange act .

Instead he will, in best bib and tucker, be performing his last official act as the Masters champion.

Consequently the mayoral incumbent must perform a delicate juggling act to maintain constituent support.

It is used in respect of sacred trees, shrines, etc., and is performed as an act of reverence or respect.

Scrapbooks and bottles of paste and cutout articles of the young Dove braving gales in canoes, performing heroic acts .

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

act as a brake on sth

In April 1992 they persuaded Boris Yeltsin to put three industrialists into the government to act as a brake on the free-marketeers.

Post-war development of parachutes acting as brakes on jet aircraft are also covered in this rarely written about subject.

To what extent do girls act as brakes on, or motivators of, delinquent behaviour in masculine adolescent gang-culture, for example?

Unfortunately, widespread foot-dragging continues to act as a brake on debt relief.

act/play the goat

acting manager/head teacher/director etc

an act of faith

Allowing Ken to be in charge of the project was a total act of faith .

It is, even, a bit of an act of faith comparing two concurrent campaigns' performance.

It was an act of faith to open up and know that we might not have any money two weeks later.

It was by an act of faith in his science that a trim Shepelev crawled into the chamber and sealed the door.

Six were at sea, on the business of trade - an act of faith that he might have cause to regret.

The objection to the claim is that it is mere assertion or, more kindly, an act of faith .

There is no continuous evolution towards it; it requires, somewhere along the line, an act of faith on the part of management.

This is where boating turns into an act of faith .

To conclude that the universe exists because it permits us to exist is an act of faith , not reason.

be a hard act to follow

Clearly Amelia was a hard act to follow .

Colm Toibin's piece will be a hard act to follow but I suspect you are up to it.

It was a hard act to follow , but the poor did what they could to provide respectable funerals for their dead.

Judith will be a hard act to follow .

clean up your act

Gwen finally told her troubled son to clean up his act or get out of her house.

She told her son to clean up his act or move out.

Tish has really cleaned up her act - she doesn't drink or smoke pot any more.

But he eventually sees their potential and cleans up his act just in time.

Citibank insists it has cleaned up its act.

Despite Mr Haider's grandiose, unbelievable last-minute pledges to clean up his act, there should be no wavering.

Drivers whose vehicles give off more poisonous chemicals than are allowed have ten days to clean up their act.

Legislation aimed at forcing the power firms to clean up their act is being fought tooth and nail by the polluters.

More recently Lou has cleaned up his act and started setting the world to rights.

Naming and shaming remains an option should the company not clean up its act.

The industry was effectively warned to clean up its act or face legislation.

deeds/acts etc of derring-do

read (sb) the riot act

Stephanie read Ted the riot act for seeing his old girlfriend.

smarten up your act/ideas

Despite the encouraging figures, the Chunnel has prompted ferry companies to smarten up their act, and offer better deals.

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a criminal act

a one-act play

an act of Congress

He was injured in a circus act that went wrong.

In Act 2, Ross and Diane get married.

Kinison's outrageous comedy act

Our next act is a young singer all the way from Dallas, Texas.

Part of his act involves dressing up as a woman.

Saving the boys from the river was an act of great courage.

the 1991 Prevention of Terrorism Act

the Civil Rights Act

The festival will be an all-day event featuring a lot of different acts.

The Wagner Act prohibited employers from firing workers for joining a union.

The whole nation is very grateful for the numerous acts of kindness rendered in this time of crisis.

Tony tries to be so macho, but it's just an act .

We condemn all acts of violence, no matter what the reason.

We used to do a comedy act together.

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

A lawful act such as a killing in self-defence is not an unlawful act for this purpose.

I recently saw a circus act with contortionists folding themselves in amazing ways.

Naming and shaming remains an option should the company not clean up its act .

Nicasio gave Cecilia poisoned water, believing she would reveal his perfidious acts.

One of his final acts was to take Britain's Nigel Mansell from Williams.

Some lawyers believed this act violated the establishment clause.

The act of physically putting the drive in the computer is relatively easy.

When her act split up, he offered her a permanent studio within the premises where she could run her own classes.

II. verb

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ ADVERB

as

He does not, but his genes act as if they do.

These verbal clues act as links between major and subordinate points.

And I could act as if running a new household was an ambition f could concentrate on and fall in love with.

After a period of training, co-counsellors are paired off, and thereafter act as both counsellor and client to each other.

At times, she became panicky and acted as if she were seeing something scary or having something scary happen to her.

These people need to be enabled to act as representatives for their agencies and as link-persons with other agencies.

These channels act as on-ramps to the Internet or other on-line information services.

decisively

The bluelight was supposed to give her foreknowledge so she could act decisively .

Thirty years ago, farmers say, the government acted decisively and quickly to contain hoof and mouth.

Pressure to act decisively came, among others, from Mr Smith's predecessor, Neil Kinnock.

Too few managers and supervisors had learned to act decisively not withstanding their new decision-making authority.

When he felt fully in command of the situation, he acted decisively .

The heads of Great Groups have to act decisively , but never arbitrarily.

on

Since 1984, 22 Bills have not been acted on .

Thus this second part is simply the tape that supposed to act on .

Many general practitioners still need to be convinced that their views will be listened to and where appropriate acted on .

Have they acted on users' suggestions for improvements?

A concrete choice could be the four-momentum of a test body acted on by gravitational and non-gravitational forces.

And he continued his signature practice of appointing teams to come up with recommendations that he could act on quickly.

They are really promises - promises intended to be binding, intended to be acted on , and in fact acted on.

Computers and the Brain A conventional computer is typically a single processor acting on explicitly programmed instructions.

out

She has become a parody of herself, doomed to spend the rest of her life acting out her own mythical qualities.

They acted out of a conscience that patriots despised but at least could understand.

A reaction to these difficulties may be withdrawal, apathy, or acting out behaviour.

Other children act out in school and have nightmares, the parents say.

The market is further enhanced by live performers who act out the varied timeless arts.

The dialogue-based text is ideal for reading aloud in class or for encouraging pupils to act out the stories.

There have been several cases in the past where it appeared people were acting out violent scenes from films.

Magistrates are also reported to want to reconstruct the raid using volunteers to act out the roles.

quickly

Mr Keating is being urged to act quickly to avoid years of uncertainty while new claims are fought through the courts.

Democrats are pushing Woods and other Republicans to act quickly .

But police say they had to act quickly to protect staff and shoppers.

The group said it was acting quickly because it feared that the new law would have an immediate effect on the Internet.

He hadn't acted quickly enough.

Major airlines always act quickly to nip back.

They have to plan and act quickly to prevent any spread to other animals or humans.

Marquez, realizing he must act quickly , marched toward Queretaro.

responsibly

Both require political intervention: the market alone has no capacity to act responsibly or intelligently.

There is a simple lesson here: give a student a real responsibility, and he or she will act responsibly .

You can't force him to act responsibly but you can make sure he doesn't treat you like a doormat.

He is acting responsibly , being faithful to his employer.

That being so, the vice-chancellors are acting responsibly to explore alternative sources of funding.

A vote for the Greens will put pressure on the other parties to act responsibly .

together

The two experimental set-ups were different, incompatible, and so could not act together .

Fifthly, the periodic meetings of Great Powers which together acted as self-appointed guarantors of international law and order.

It had been unthinkable that either one of them could be ignored, much less the two acting together .

That's why I think it could be a group of them acting together .

The strong impression I had was of a people who acted together because of a preconceived plan: a people programmed.

Ducal servants from all areas acted together .

Compassion is feeling and acting together .

upon

These recommendations have already been acted upon .

Speaking a language involves producing sounds for others to hear, understand, and act upon .

It has become customary to assume that the subject is that which acts and the object is that which is acted upon .

The suggestion was acted upon at once.

If the government acted upon this report the Raika stood to gain certain privileges.

Headley also illustrates what could happen if operational intelligence was rapidly gathered and acted upon .

The Enlightenment made claims for equality that waited to be acted upon .

Issues not subsequently acted upon by Congress would be resubmitted for the voters to decide.

■ NOUN

advice

But at the moment Thamesdown Borough Council isn't acting on that advice ... because its worried about the legal implications.

She was acting on the advice of her therapist in speaking thus.

The only reason the bank advanced was that it was acting on the advice of the Federal Reserve.

In performing this duty the directors usually act on the advice of the issuing house and the lawyers acting.

He added progress would be limited until housing and social services merged and acted on the advice of clients.

No one knows what society would be like if everyone acted on the advice of those who openly advocate it.

Here the garrison, acting on advice from Philip, refused to admit him.

agent

And within this relationship local authorities were seen as decentralized administrative agents , acting at the behest of the centre.

But it was unlikely the police agents acted without the approval of their superiors.

The two parties may agree a price for the land or ask an agent to act on their behalf.

Sales agents acting on behalf of manufacturers, are vigilant in preventing retailers from selling at lower prices by threatening to cut future supplies.

The people to be interviewed are known as freight forwarding agents , who act for individual exporters and importers.

Yesterday, a spokesman for the Shrewsbury-based agents acting for Hafodunos Estates said discussions were continuing.

authority

Parliament has expressly given him power to intervene when the local authority is acting unreasonably.

The board has authority to act in several ways.

Parents and local authorities are expected to act in partnership motivated by the child's best interests.

He said the Attorney General's office overstepped its authority and acted improperly.

On what authority was International Rescue acting ?

H grants Caltrans the authority to act .

The dependence thesis does not claim that authorities always act for dependent reasons, but merely that they should do so.

To deal with disputes over such matters, regional health authorities will act as conciliators.

behalf

In due course you should find ways to reward the achievements of those who have acted on your behalf .

The governors will often give the chairman discretion to act on their behalf .

They agreed that they would really be acting on Altus's behalf .

If there was an attempt to steal the election, it was by the Florida court acting on Gore's behalf .

He would act on your behalf to the chief constable.

catalyst

Such evidence may also act as a catalyst for improving the methods by which meta-analyses are conducted.

They act as a catalyst for a company and help it to focus on a higher level of performance.

As its name suggests, the dual perspective argues that rights and movements actually encourage each other, acting as mutual catalysts .

The developer or his land buyer should act as the catalyst in such situations.

It also acted as the catalyst to form fossil fuels from tiny animals millions of years ago.

deterrent

The black and white stripes of the skunks act as a powerful deterrent , even from a great distance.

In addition, divided catalogues or separate classified catalogues could also have acted as a deterrent to subject searching.

This sentence certainly will not act as a deterrent to other drunk drivers.

Whether that would act as a deterrent is, of course, another question altogether.

A half squadron of gendarmes has been stationed in Maripasoula, their presence supposedly acting as a deterrent .

faith

The Vendor ought to act in good faith and disclose any such matters.

School officials can lose this qualified privilege if they act in bad faith or without regard for whether the statements are true.

And some councils are acting in bad faith .

If you act in good faith you might get out of this with your skin on.

Such a State should act in good faith so as not to frustrate the objects of the treaty.

Any person who acts in good faith will not, however, be required to make repayment.

role

They will act in a facilitating role to help in focusing on more general social and economic need.

But men do not feature prominently as family members acting in their familial role .

The company secretarial department of the firm can and have acted in this role on occasions.

Crowe brings much more than acting to the role .

How have the parents acted as role models?

Hunters might seek to kill them, but they are quite capable of turning the tables and acting out the agent role .

You may act as a role model and a mentor to others.

Magistrates are also reported to want to reconstruct the raid using volunteers to act out the roles .

solicitor

It is envisaged that the wife and the new husband will have a solicitor who acts for both of them.

Given that these defendants are unlikely to know the names of solicitors the responsibility for acting quickly settles on the duty solicitor.

A solicitor or accountant can act as an Executor if you so wish.

You are strongly advised to consult a solicitor without delay to act for you in your appeal.

On both occasions the solicitor had acted without authority and the transactions were frauds on the bank.

The effect may be to limit greatly the opportunity for solicitors to act as advocates in more serious criminal cases.

Two Kirkwall solicitors were acting for the four families.

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

act as a brake on sth

In April 1992 they persuaded Boris Yeltsin to put three industrialists into the government to act as a brake on the free-marketeers.

Post-war development of parachutes acting as brakes on jet aircraft are also covered in this rarely written about subject.

To what extent do girls act as brakes on, or motivators of, delinquent behaviour in masculine adolescent gang-culture, for example?

Unfortunately, widespread foot-dragging continues to act as a brake on debt relief.

act/play the goat

acting manager/head teacher/director etc

an act of faith

Allowing Ken to be in charge of the project was a total act of faith .

It is, even, a bit of an act of faith comparing two concurrent campaigns' performance.

It was an act of faith to open up and know that we might not have any money two weeks later.

It was by an act of faith in his science that a trim Shepelev crawled into the chamber and sealed the door.

Six were at sea, on the business of trade - an act of faith that he might have cause to regret.

The objection to the claim is that it is mere assertion or, more kindly, an act of faith .

There is no continuous evolution towards it; it requires, somewhere along the line, an act of faith on the part of management.

This is where boating turns into an act of faith .

To conclude that the universe exists because it permits us to exist is an act of faith , not reason.

deeds/acts etc of derring-do

play/act the fool

Don't play the fool with me. You know why I moved away.

But the trouble with the picture is that it does absolutely nothing with its various prognostications except play the fool with them.

Dominic and Lee had been playing the fool as only young men can.

Don't go acting the fool , Carl.

He acted the fool , losing at first to whet their appetites, but in an hour emptied his three victims' purses.

He likes me to play the fool .

In class he never played the fool , never challenged the teacher.

Narouz had been angry, first with the girl for playing the fool and then with the eunuch for not finding her.

Those on the path of mastery are willing to take chances, play the fool ....

read (sb) the riot act

Stephanie read Ted the riot act for seeing his old girlfriend.

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a fast-acting decongestant

Congress must act soon on this vital legislation.

Critics accuse the company of acting too slowly in notifying residents of the chemical leak.

Despite the crisis, the Commission seems unwilling to act .

He has been accused of acting like a dictator.

He learned to act when he was in highschool.

I acted more out of compassion than anything else.

In recent years Lewis has been acting in television dramas.

It takes a couple of minutes for the drug to act .

Larry was acting really weird.

Morganstern claims he was acting in self-defense.

She acts as if she owns the place and we're her servants.

That woman just can't act !

The picture has a good script and is wonderfully acted.

The report says the officers acted professionally and responsibly.

Tina's been acting very strangely lately.

We must act before the situation gets out of control.

You're acting stupid and I don't want to talk to you anymore.

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

As often as not, the government would then act against the loyalists to prevent the increase in tension.

Bernard in the twelfth century: The river enters the abbey as much as the well acting as a check allows.

But it seemed to me that most of us were just acting.

But there are many other ways in which we could act .

Even in towns women did not normally act as traders.

It is not the world we seem to experience and act in.

It will no longer act as a spring but at least it will give the cabin a more solid base.

Morgan Stanley will act as co-global coordinator.

Longman DOCE5 Extras English vocabulary.      Дополнительный английский словарь Longman DOCE5.