act vs regulation

act

noun
  • 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. 

  • A formal or official record of something done. 

  • 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. 

regulation

noun
  • A type of law made by the executive branch of government, usually by virtue of a statute made by the legislative branch giving the executive the authority to do so. 

  • The act of regulating or the condition of being regulated. 

  • A numbered provision within such kind of law. 

  • Mechanism controlling DNA transcription. 

  • A law or administrative rule, issued by an organization, used to guide or prescribe the conduct of members of that organization. 

  • A form of legislative act which is self-effecting, and requires no further intervention by the Member States to become law. 

  • Physiological process which consists in maintaining homoeostasis. 

adj
  • In conformity with applicable rules and regulations. 

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