act vs function

act

noun
  • A formal or official record of something done. 

  • A product of a legislative body, a statute. 

  • A display of behaviour. 

  • A display of behaviour meant to deceive. 

  • A division of a theatrical performance. 

  • Something done once and for all, as distinguished from a work. 

  • Any organized activity. 

  • A performer or performers in a show. 

  • The process of doing something. 

  • A thesis maintained in public, in some English universities, by a candidate for a degree, or to show the proficiency of a student. 

  • Something done, a deed. 

verb
  • Of a play: to be acted out (well or badly). 

  • To perform a theatrical role. 

  • To play (a role). 

  • To convey an appearance of being. 

  • To map via a homomorphism to a group of automorphisms (of). 

  • To feign. 

  • To do something. 

  • To have an effect (on). 

  • To behave in a certain manner for an indefinite length of time. 

  • To do something that causes a change binding on the doer. 

function

noun
  • An official or social occasion. 

  • What something does or is used for. 

  • The physiological activity of an organ or body part. 

  • A routine that receives zero or more arguments and may return a result. 

  • The role of a social practice in the continued existence of the group. 

  • A party. 

  • The characteristic behavior of a chemical compound. 

  • A relation in which each element of the domain is associated with exactly one element of the codomain. 

  • A professional or official position. 

  • A relation where one thing is dependent on another for its existence, value, or significance. 

  • Something which is dependent on or stems from another thing; a result or concomitant. 

verb
  • To have a function. 

  • To carry out a function; to be in action. 

How often have the words act and function occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )