Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

actor

1 American  
[ak-ter] / ˈæk tər /

noun

  1. a person who acts in stage plays, motion pictures, television broadcasts, etc.

  2. a person who does something; participant.

Actor 2 American  
[ak-ter] / ˈæk tər /

noun

Classical Mythology.

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

actor British  
/ 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 )

"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

Usage

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

Other Word Forms

  • nonactor noun

Etymology

Origin of actor

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

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.