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to act upon

to act upon

16 3.5
Make someone or something change
  • phrasal verb
  • /ækt əˈpɒn/
translation icon : actuar sobre
  • And the idea here is that you provide people with information and displays that they can act upon to change their behaviour.
  • understand and act upon
  • act upon and transform
  • act upon the world

We're more likely to act upon it in a constructive way.

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Examples

  • After the meeting, the team decided to act upon the suggestions from the feedback they received.

  • Consequently, some Mexican-American moderates began to make efforts to acknowledge and act upon the militants' demands.

    Academic text (1991)
  • So can you please bring me a thought I can act upon, OK.

  • We're more likely to act upon it in a constructive way.

  • Now I'm calm enough to actually act upon something that can change this.

  • It is up to us to force our leaders to act upon what we know.

  • There is little opportunity, beyond memorization, to create and act upon new knowledge.

    Academic text (1995)
  • Good things come to those who act upon what they know through consistency and repetition.

  • The team meets monthly to ensure the psychological needs of the child are understood and acted upon.

    Academic text (2011)
  • Yet immediately they acted upon this idea, unanimously approving it and forming an organizing committee.

    Academic text (1990)

Synonyms

to affect
vsto act upon
3.0

To cause a change in a person or thing

is the broad expression meaning to have influence or cause change
to influence
vsto act upon
591 2.2

To change how people and things think, act, or develop

is about causing change in many ways rather than only shaping development
to impact
vsto act upon
255 3.4

To have a strong effect on someone or something

is general influence and not necessarily strong in force
to actuate
vsto act upon
7.0

To make someone act because of a feeling or reason

is broader, affecting things without always causing direct action

Antonyms

1.0

Choose not to pay attention to someone or something

256 3.8

Fail to care for someone or something you should look after

How Influential

to determine
282 3.1
to shape
328 3.4
to act upon
16 3.5
to touch
1.0

Surface Forms

act upon infinitive
acted upon past
acted upon past participle
acting upon present participle
acts upon third person singular

Morphology

act + upon

The meaning 'to have an influence on / take action affecting' is directly derivable from combining 'act' (to do something) with 'upon' (on/affecting something); the construction maps clearly to the more common 'act on'. Although 'upon' is slightly formal, the compositional logic is straightforward and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents should understand the MWE.

Etymology

Act upon comes from the simple image of doing something that pushes or works on another thing, literally to act directly upon it. So, it means 'to influence' or 'to cause a change' in someone or something.