ACTOR

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does actor mean? 

• ACTOR (noun)
  The noun ACTOR has 2 senses:

1. a theatrical performer

2. a person who acts and gets things done

  Familiarity information: ACTOR used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ACTOR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A theatrical performer

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

actor; histrion; player; role player; thespian

Hypernyms ("actor" is a kind of...):

performer; performing artist (an entertainer who performs a dramatic or musical work for an audience)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "actor"):

barnstormer; play-actor; playactor; trouper (an actor who travels around the country presenting plays)

actress (a female actor)

walk-on (plays a small part in a dramatic production)

upstager (a selfish actor who upstages the other actors)

standby; understudy (an actor able to replace a regular performer when required)

tragedian (an actor who specializes in tragic roles)

extra; spear carrier; supernumerary (a minor actor in crowd scenes)

lead; principal; star (an actor who plays a principal role)

movie actor; screen actor (an actor who plays a role in a film)

scene-stealer (an actor who draws more attention than other actors in the same scene)

plant (an actor situated in the audience whose acting is rehearsed but seems spontaneous to the audience)

reenactor (a person who enacts a role in an event that occurred earlier)

character actor (an actor who specializes in playing supporting roles)

comedian (an actor in a comedy)

ham; ham actor (an unskilled actor who overacts)

heavy (an actor who plays villainous roles)

ingenue (an actress who specializes in playing the role of an artless innocent young girl)

leading man (actor who plays the leading male role)

mime; mimer; mummer; pantomimer; pantomimist (an actor who communicates entirely by gesture and facial expression)

Instance hyponyms:

Baron Olivier of Birghton; Laurence Olivier; Olivier; Sir Laurence Kerr Olivier (English actor best know for his Shakespearean roles (1907-1989))

Newman; Paul Leonard Newman; Paul Newman (United States film actor (born in 1925))

Dudley Moore; Dudley Stuart John Moore; Moore (English actor and comedian who appeared on television and in films (born in 1935))

Mitchum; Robert Mitchum (United States film actor (1917-1997))

James Mason; James Neville Mason; Mason (English film actor (1909-1984))

Martin; Steve Martin (United States actor and comedian (born in 1945))

E. G. Marshall; Marshall (United States actor (1914-1998))

Alfred Lunt; Lunt (United States actor who performed with his wife Lynn Fontanne in many stage productions (1893-1977))

Bela Ferenc Blasko; Bela Lugosi; Lugosi (United States film actor (born in Hungary) noted for portraying monsters (1884-1956))

Laszlo Lowestein; Lorre; Peter Lorre (United States actor (born in Hungary) noted for playing sinister roles (1904-1964))

Harold Clayton Lloyd; Harold Lloyd; Lloyd (United States comic actor in silent films; he used physical danger as a source of comedy (1893-1971))

Edmund Kean; Kean (English actor noted for his portrayals of Shakespeare's great tragic characters (1789-1833))

Jack Lemmon; John Uhler; Lemmon (United States film actor (1925-2001))

Bruce Lee; Lee; Lee Yuen Kam (United States actor who was an expert in kung fu and starred in martial arts films (1941-1973))

Charles Laughton; Laughton (United States film actor (born in England) (1899-1962))

Eugene Curran Kelly; Gene Kelly; Kelly (United States dancer who performed in many musical films (1912-1996))

Buster Keaton; Joseph Francis Keaton; Keaton (United States comedian and actor in silent films noted for his acrobatic skills and deadpan face (1895-1966))

Hanks; Thomas J. Hanks; Tom Hanks (United States film actor (born in 1956))

Konstantin Sergeevich Alekseev; Konstantin Sergeyevich Stanislavsky; Konstantin Stanislavsky; Stanislavsky (Russian actor and theater director who trained his actors to emphasize the psychological motivation of their roles (1863-1938))

George Orson Welles; Orson Welles; Welles (United States actor and filmmaker (1915-1985))

Duke Wayne; John Wayne; Wayne (United States film actor who played tough heroes (1907-1979))

Peter Alexander Ustinov; Sir Peter Ustinov; Ustinov (British actor and playwright (1921-2004))

Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree; Tree (English actor and theatrical producer noted for his lavish productions of Shakespeare (1853-1917))

Spencer Tracy; Tracy (United States film actor who appeared in many films with Katharine Hepburn (1900-1967))

Erich von Stroheim; Stroheim (United States film actor (born in Austria) (1885-1957))

Israel Strassberg; Lee Strasberg; Strasberg (United States actor and film director (born in Austria) who was a leader in developing method acting in the United States (1901-1982))

James Maitland Stewart; Jimmy Stewart; Stewart (United States film actor who portrayed incorruptible but modest heros (1908-1997))

O'Toole; Peter O'Toole; Peter Seamus O'Toole (British actor (born in Ireland in 1932))

Otis Skinner; Skinner (United States actor (1858-1942))

Francis Albert Sinatra; Frank Sinatra; Sinatra (United States singer and film actor (1915-1998))

Peter Sellers; Sellers (English comic actor (1925-1980))

George C. Scott; Scott (award-winning United States film actor (1928-1999))

Edward G. Robinson; Edward Goldenberg Robinson; Robinson (United States film actor noted for playing gangster roles (1893-1973))

Ralph Richardson; Richardson; Sir Ralph David Richardson (British stage and screen actor noted for playing classic roles (1902-1983))

Charles Robert Redford; Redford; Robert Redford (United States actor and filmmaker who starred with Paul Newman in several films (born in 1936))

Poitier; Sidney Poitier (United States film actor and director (born in 1927))

Burton; Richard Burton (Welsh film actor who often co-starred with Elizabeth Taylor (1925-1984))

De Niro; Robert De Niro (United States film actor who frequently plays tough characters (born 1943))

Dean; James Byron Dean; James Dean (United States film actor whose moody rebellious roles made him a cult figure (1931-1955))

Bing Crosby; Crosby; Harry Lillis Crosby (United States singer and film actor (1903-1977))

Cronyn; Hume Blake Cronyn; Hume Cronyn (Canadian actor who frequently played character parts with his wife Jessica Tandy (1911-2003))

Coward; Noel Coward; Sir Noel Pierce Coward (English dramatist and actor and composer noted for his witty and sophisticated comedies (1899-1973))

Cooper; Frank Cooper; Gary Cooper (United States film actor noted for his portrayals of strong silent heroes (1901-1961))

Chevalier; Maurice Chevalier (French actor and cabaret singer (1888-1972))

Cagney; James Cagney; Jimmy Cagney (United States film actor known for his portrayals of tough characters (1899-1986))

Al Jolson; Asa Yoelson; Jolson (United States singer (born in Russia) who appeared in the first full-length talking film (1886-1950))

Burbage; Richard Burbage (English actor who was the first to play the leading role in several of Shakespeare's tragedies (1567-1619))

Booth; John Wilkes Booth (United States actor and assassin of President Lincoln (1838-1865))

Bogart; Humphrey Bogart; Humphrey DeForest Bogart (United States film actor (1899-1957))

Barrymore; John Barrymore (United States actor; son of Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Barrymore (1882-1942))

Barrymore; Lionel Barrymore (United States actor; son of Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Barrymore (1878-1954))

Barrymore; Herbert Blythe; Maurice Barrymore (United States actor; husband of Georgiana Emma Barrymore and father of Ethel Barrymore and John Barrymore and Lionel Barrymore (1847-1905))

Astaire; Fred Astaire (United States dancer and cinema actor noted for his original and graceful tap dancing (1899-1987))

Allen; Allen Stewart Konigsberg; Woody Allen (United States filmmaker and comic actor (1935-))

Drew; John Drew (United States actor (born in Ireland); father of Georgiana Emma Barrymore (1827-1862))

Boris Karloff; Karloff; William Henry Pratt (United States film actor (born in England) noted for his performances in horror films (1887-1969))

Howard; Leslie Howard; Leslie Howard Stainer (English actor of stage and screen (1893-1943))

Anthony Hopkins; Hopkins; Sir Anthony Hopkins; Sir Anthony Philip Hopkins (Welsh film actor (born in 1937))

Dustin Hoffman; Hoffman (versatile United States film actor (born in 1937))

Heming; Hemminge; John Heming; John Hemminge (English actor who edited the first folio of Shakespeare's plays (1556-1630))

Harrison; Reginald Carey Harrison; Rex Harrison; Sir Rex Harrison (English actor on stage and in films (1908-1990))

Alec Guinness; Guinness; Sir Alec Guinness (English stage and screen actor noted for versatility (1914-2000))

Granville-Barker; Harley Granville-Barker (English actor and dramatist and critic and director noted for his productions of Shakespearean plays (1877-1946))

Cary Grant; Grant (United States actor (born in England) who was the elegant leading man in many films (1904-1986))

Arthur John Gielgud; Gielgud; Sir John Gielgud (English actor of Shakespearean roles who was also noted for appearances in films (1904-2000))

Gibson; Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson; Mel Gibson (Australian actor (born in the United States in 1956))

David Garrick; Garrick (English actor and theater manager who was the foremost Shakespearean actor of his day (1717-1779))

Clark Gable; Gable; William Clark Gable (United States film actor (1901-1960))

Fonda; Henry Fonda (United States film actor (1905-1982))

Douglas Fairbanks Jr.; Fairbanks (United States film actor; son of Douglas Elton Fairbanks, (1909-2000))

Douglas Elton Fairbanks; Douglas Fairbanks; Fairbanks; Julius Ullman (United States film actor noted for his swashbuckling roles (1883-1939))

Depardieu; Gerard Depardieu (French film actor (born in 1948))

Derivation:

act (play a role or part)

act (perform on a stage or theater)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A person who acts and gets things done

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

actor; doer; worker

Context example:

he's a miracle worker

Hypernyms ("actor" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "actor"):

demon (someone extremely diligent or skillful)

busy bee; eager beaver; live wire; sharpie; sharpy (an alert and energetic person)

animator; energiser; energizer; vitaliser; vitalizer (someone who imparts energy and vitality and spirit to other people)

ball of fire; go-getter; whiz-kid; whizz-kid (someone whose career progresses rapidly)

man of action; man of deeds (someone inclined to act first and think later)

ball of fire; fireball; human dynamo; powerhouse (a highly energetic and indefatigable person)

Derivation:

act (discharge one's duties)

 Context examples 

Great singers are not great actors.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

You may be chosen to be the actor to appear as the star of the show or to do a masterful voiceover for a children’s movie (Leo is associated with little munchkins).

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Each case has been the prelude to another, and the crisis once over, the actors have passed for ever out of our busy lives.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The stage lost a fine actor, even as science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in crime.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Then here’s a compact,” he went on, consummate actor.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The test asked for the names of famous people (for example, authors, politicians and actors) based on 20 questions about them.

(Exercise May Help Seniors with Word, Memory Problems, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The researchers suggest that the model could provide practical information for key actors such as policymakers to control other crop diseases resulting from viral co-infection.

(Researchers model ways to control deadly maize disease, SciDev.Net)

In the context of faces under LPS light, things looked so strange, the brain conjured up an explanation: the actor must be sick, according to the researchers.

(Rosy health and sickly green: color associations play robust role in reading faces, National Institutes of Health)

This was a surprise even to the actors, and when they saw the table, they looked at one another in rapturous amazement.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

“I believe,” said Fanny to her aunt Bertram, “there will be three acts rehearsed to-morrow evening, and that will give you an opportunity of seeing all the actors at once.”

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)