ACTING OUT • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Acting out

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/ˈæktɪŋ aʊt/ Listen

Acting out

noun

A (usually irritating) impulsive and uncontrollable outburst by a problem child or a neurotic adult.

(psychiatry) the display of previously inhibited emotions (often in actions rather than words); considered to be healthy and therapeutic.

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Etymology of 'Acting out'

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"Acting out" Quotes from Famous Books

... of the soul and externalizing themselves in immense manifestations of energy in which the original will is often submerged and lost sight of? If in their inception national ideals are spiritual, their final object must also be spiritual, perhaps to make man a yet freer agent, but acting out of a continual consciousness of his unity with humanity. The discipline which the highly organized State imposes on its subjects connects them continuously in thought to something greater than themselves, and so ennobles ...

— Imaginations and Reveries • (A.E.) George William Russell

Words linked to "Acting out" : outburst, ebullition, display, gush, psychological medicine, effusion, psychiatry, psychopathology, blowup