play-act
Britishverb
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(intr) to pretend or make believe
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(intr) to behave in an overdramatic or affected manner
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to act in or as in (a play)
Other Word Forms
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Several times, the kids play-act the old cartoonish “Tom Sawyer” game—in which the rascal tricks his buddies into doing his fence-painting chore—and the reference is apt.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 17, 2018
After Paps leaves with no plans to return, the boys play-act as their parents, roleplaying their reunion over the phone.
From Slate ● Aug. 15, 2018
They play-act traumatic scenarios, like getting a shot at the doctor’s office, in preparation for handling stressful situations in real life.
From The Verge ● Dec. 22, 2017
CBS’ show—the most-watched sitcom in America—is also one of television’s most frustratingly retrograde, a bizarre play-act of caricatured “nerd” behaviors that, it often seems, exists for other people to laugh at.
From Salon ● Dec. 18, 2015
"I thought he could play-act the thing in his mind too well ever to be the thing itself."
From Gilian The Dreamer His Fancy, His Love and Adventure by Neil Munro
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
