playact

[ pley-akt ]
See synonyms for: playactplayactingplayactor on Thesaurus.com

verb (used without object)
  1. to engage in make-believe.

  2. to be insincere or affected in speech, manner, etc.: It's hard to get away with playacting with members of one's own family.

  1. to perform in a play.

verb (used with object)
  1. to dramatize (something): They playacted the movements of a burglar.

Origin of playact

1
1895–1900; back formation from playacting;see play, act, -ing1

Other words from playact

  • playacting, noun
  • playactor, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use playact in a sentence

  • I am merely vexed that you should play-act to me, and to Bezobiedoff, and to yourself.

    Youth | Leo Tolstoy

British Dictionary definitions for play-act

play-act

verb
  1. (intr) to pretend or make believe

  2. (intr) to behave in an overdramatic or affected manner

  1. to act in or as in (a play)

Derived forms of play-act

  • play-acting, noun
  • play-actor, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012