Other forms: acts
An act is a single thing somebody does, or one part of a play. An act of kindness, the second act, caught in the act.
In theatre, a play divides into acts and acts into scenes, and the interval falls between acts. An Act of Parliament is a law that has passed. An act is also a performance in the false sense — it is all an act — and a turn on a bill, as in a comedy act. Note act as a verb; get your act together; and a hard act to follow.
1nounactA single thing somebody does.
“Helping the old man carry his shopping was a small act of kindness.”
2nounmainOne main division of a play.
“The hero dies at the end of the second act.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
act is a deed or division.
Latin actum means a thing done, from agere, to do or drive. Agent, agenda, action and exact come from the same doing.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₂eǵ-
Middle English
acte
English, today
act
Built from
From Middle English acte. From Middle English acte, from Old French acte, from Latin ācta (“register of events”), plural of āctum (“decree, law”), from ago (“to do, to act”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European h₂éǵeti. Compare German Akte (“file”). Partially displaced deed, from Old English dǣd (“act, deed”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA