1-Perform something with actions and gestures, and usually with speech or dialogue.
They acted out the story on stage.
Do children act out what they see on television?
| 2. To express a negative feeling or impulse by behaving in a socially unacceptable way |
Their anger is acted out in their antisocial behavior.
Because his parents spent so much time with his chronically ill sister, the boy resorted to acting out in order to get attention.
3. To translate into action or realize through action
He wanted to see his theory acted out in practice
They were unwilling to act out their beliefs in human rights and dignity due to their fear that it might get them hurt or killed by the militia.
Notes: transitive and intransitive verb. - Separable [optional].
Acting out is a psychological term from the parlance of defense mechanisms and self-control, meaning to perform an action in contrast to bearing and managing the impulse to perform it. The acting done is usually anti-social and may take the form of acting on the impulses of an addiction (eg. drinking, drug taking or shoplifting) or in a means designed (often unconsciously or semi-consciously) to garner attention (eg. throwing a tantrum or behaving promiscuously). In general usage, the action performed is destructive to self or others and may inhibit the development of more constructive responses to the feelings. The term is used in this way in sexual addiction treatment, psychotherapy, criminology and parenting. Acting out painful feelings may be contrasted with expressing them in ways more helpful to the sufferer, e.g. by talking out, expressive therapy, psychodrama or mindful awareness of the feelings. Developing the ability to express one's conflicts safely and constructively is an important part of impulse control, personal development and self-care.
Today's idiom is In The (Very) Nick Of Time, which means:
Just in time; at the last possible instant; just before it's too late.
The doctor arrived in the nick of time. The patient's life was saved.
I reached the airport in the very nick of time and made my flight.
Note: (*Typically: arrive ~; get there ~; happen ~; reach something ~; Save someone ~.). The "nick" in Nick of Time that is being referred comes from a notch or small cut and was synonymous with precision. Such notches were used on 'tally' sticks to measure or keep score. If someone is now said to be 'in the nick' the English would expect him to be found in prison, the Scots would picture him in the valley between two hills and Australians would imagine him to be naked. To Shakespeare and his contemporaries if someone were 'in (or at, or upon) the (very) nick' they were in the precise place at the precise time. Watches and the strings of musical instruments were adjusted to precise pre-marked nicks to keep them in proper order.
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