actor

[ ak-ter ]
See synonyms for actor on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a person who acts in stage plays, motion pictures, television broadcasts, etc.

  2. a person who does something; participant.

Origin of actor

1
1350–1400; Middle English <Latin āctor, equivalent to āg- (see act) + -tor-tor

Other words from actor

  • non·ac·tor, noun

Other definitions for Actor (2 of 2)

Actor
[ ak-ter ]

nounClassical Mythology.
  1. a brother of King Augeas, sometimes believed to be the father, by Molione, of Eurytus and Cteatus.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use actor in a sentence

  • Those in whom the impulse is strong and dominant are perhaps those who in later years make the good society actors.

    Children's Ways | James Sully
  • A curtain that halts in its descent upon the actors endangers the effect of the entire Play.

    The Wave | Algernon Blackwood
  • Surely this pitiable case ought to be brought to the attention of the Actors' Benevolent Association.

  • Although many British actors and musicians were participants in this theater, it often suffered from financial stress.

  • The actors are very bad as such, and little better as singers; but the orchestra is very tolerable.

British Dictionary definitions for actor

actor

/ (ˈæktə) /


noun
  1. a person who acts in a play, film, broadcast, etc

  2. informal a person who puts on a false manner in order to deceive others (often in the phrase bad actor)

usage For actor

The term actor is almost universally used nowadays to refer to people of either gender who act

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012