noun / verb
act
ACT/ækt/
Something done or a way of behaving
The man acts quickly to set the tipped watering can upright.
Etymology
Latin agere connected setting things in motion with doing or performing. The everyday English verb probably developed mainly from the noun meaning “a thing done.”
In context
When someone is unkind, your instinct is to correct them, to make them see, to change how they act.