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.
No, the preferred way to play-act "normal American man" is to be a massive jerk.
From Salon • Jan. 16, 2025
So you start to just play-act the situation that you're in and see if you can get out of it.
From The Guardian • Oct. 13, 2020
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
You're such a sinful old 'ypocrite, that you play-act before yourself, I do believe.
From The Lord of the Sea by Shiel, M. P. (Matthew Phipps)
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.
