Appear to act? (5)
I believe the answer is:
enter
This might be a double definition.
'appear' is the first definition.
(thesaurus)
'act?' is the second definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to competing as well as being verbs in their base form.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'to' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for enter that I've seen before include "Fill in" , "Set foot in" , "Introduce" , "Inscribe" , "Break in" .)