acting up

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

It spent all summer in a shop in Reno undergoing warranty repairs, and it was already acting up.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 7, 2023

Moody said the injury started acting up two weeks ago and he is “slowly working back into it.”

From Washington Times • Sep. 5, 2023

What that means is when they start acting up, simply say, "I'll talk about this when you're calmer," and then pick up and leave, allowing them to have the last word.

From Salon • Aug. 11, 2023

Reports of passengers acting up on flights peaked in 2021, with many of the roughly 6,000 incidents involving anger over a since-dropped mask requirement.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 8, 2023

“The laptop has been acting up lately. It gets overheated after twenty minutes.”

From "What If It's Us" by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera