From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishact something ↔ out phrasal verb1 APif a group of people act out an event, they show how it happened by pretending to be the people who were involved in it The children were acting out the story of the birth of Jesus.2 EXPRESSto express your feelings about something through your behaviour or actions, especially when you have been feeling angry or nervous These teenagers are likely to act out their distress by running away. → act→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
act out• Describe this in great detail and act it out.• We must learn to act the play out.• A compassionate act comes out of a compassionate feeling.• You said he probably got an acting job out of town.• Short & Curly were touched with genius but split up when double acts went out of vogue.• The act of working out problems with pencil and paper always seemed kind of elegant.• The Bail Act also sets out the criteria which have to be satisfied before bail can be refused.• The Firearms Act 1968 sets out to control the possession of firearms and ammunition, and contains several offences. 