roleplay
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom role (“expected behavior”) + play (“perform, act”).
Pronunciation
editVerb
editroleplay (third-person singular simple present roleplays, present participle roleplaying, simple past and past participle roleplayed)
- (intransitive) To act out a scenario or fantasy with another person or other people.
- To spice up their sex life, they like to roleplay.
- (transitive) To act as a character as part of a fantasy, especially with a group.
- He likes to roleplay a vampire.
- 2018 October 17, Drachinifel, 30:18 from the start, in Last Ride of the High Seas Fleet - Battle of Texel 1918[1], archived from the original on 4 August 2022:
- The particular person roleplaying Beatty in that battle suggested summarily executing Seymour and dumping him overboard.
- (transitive, intransitive, by extension) To act out a social role that one does not truly belong to.
- He talks like he's some scrappy bootstrap entrepreneur but he's just some old money rich kid roleplaying.
- 1982 December 11, Catherine Joseph, “Breaking Barriers”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 21, page 10:
- Realizing that she was an 'other' not only as a black woman but also as a black lesbian, she struggles to fiind someplace where she and other black lesbians like herself could live out their existence without role-playing or conforming to the ideals that were prevalent in the bars at that time.
Coordinate terms
edit- (act out a social role): pass
Translations
editTo act as a character as part of a fantasy, especially with a group.
Noun
editroleplay (countable and uncountable, plural roleplays)
- The act or practice of roleplaying; an instance of roleplaying.
- 1985 August 17, “Personal advertisement”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 6, page 13:
- Lesbian, 34, seeks lesbians who enjoy occasional anal sex and role plays. Light s/m ok too.
- 2008 November 21, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 3, Episode 1:
- Roy: Let's do some roleplay, OK? Do you think that would be a good idea?
Moss: It helped me learn how to buy sandwiches.
- Roy: Let's do some roleplay, OK? Do you think that would be a good idea?
- The practice of roleplaying.
Synonyms
editTranslations
editroleplaying game — see roleplaying game
See also
editAnagrams
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