actor

Meanings

1. A person who plays a part in a play, film or television show.
2. A person who takes part in an event or a process.

Example sentences

• "The actor rehearsed his lines backstage before the curtain rose."

  Level A2, Meaning 1

• "She wants to be an actor when she grows up."

  Level A1, Meaning 1

• "The film has a famous actor in the main part."

  Level A2, Meaning 1

• "Many young actors begin in school plays."

  Level A2, Meaning 1

Look-alikes and common mistakes

• actress : Actress is the older word for a woman who acts. Many people now say actor for everyone.
• performer : A performer can sing, dance or play music. An actor plays a character in a story.

Word family and forms

Forms: actors

Word partners

Words and phrases that often go with "actor".

• a film actor
• a famous actor
• a stage actor
• a good actor
• an actor's job
• child actor

Origin

Actor came into English in the 1300s from Latin actor, which meant a doer or a driver, from the verb agere, to do. It is the same as act plus the ending -or, which names a person who does something. The meaning of a stage performer grew from the idea of someone who does the part.

Checked against: Wiktionary, the free dictionary, Dictionary.com.

Usage notes

"Actor" can refer to a person of any gender, though "actress" is still sometimes used for women specifically.

How to remember it

An actor acts: the word is just act plus the person ending or.

Test yourself

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