During in-depth interviews, 401 respondents were asked about the acceptability of 18 actions, whether circumstances might justify eight of them, how the respondents felt about reporting child abuse and whether they could recall any case they had come across. Respondents strongly disapproved of sexually motivated acts, and were more disapproving of physical abuse or neglect than of emotional abuse or neglect. Circumstances did affect how the less extreme actions were viewed. Respondents supported reporting child abuse, but were somewhat against mandatory reporting. They were able to recall details of a number of possible cases. The article concludes that definitions of child abuse should be general and not tied to specific actions, since the effects of actions may vary across cultures, and should be treated as an empirical matter. This allows a research agenda that focuses on the consequences of actions rather than issues of definition. Tables, figures, references