act as

1. 1.

   function as or act like

   “This heap of stones will act as a barrier”

   Broaderserve
2. 2.

   pretend to have certain qualities or state of mind

   “He acted the idiot”

   “She plays deaf when the news are bad”

   Synonymsactplay

   Broaderact

Questions about act as

What does act as mean?

act as means "function as or act like". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

What is another word for act as?

Close synonyms include act, play. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is act as a common word?

act as is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.