acting vs operant

acting

noun
  • The occupation of an actor. 

  • Pretending. 

  • Something done by a party — so called to avoid confusion with the legal senses of deed and action. 

adj
  • Temporarily assuming the duties or authority of another person when they are unable to do their job. 

operant

noun
  • An operative person or thing. 

  • Any of a class of behaviors that produce consequences by operating (i.e., acting) upon the environment. 

adj
  • That operates to produce an effect. 

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