play-act

P p

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
- [pley akt]
- /pleɪ ækt/
- /pleɪ ækt/

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [pley akt]
- /pleɪ ækt/

Definitions of play-act word

verb without object play-act to engage in make-believe. 1
verb without object play-act 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
verb without object play-act to perform in a play. 1
verb with object play-act to dramatize (something): They playacted the movements of a burglar. 1
verb play-act If someone is play-acting, they are pretending to have attitudes or feelings that they do not really have. 0
verb play-act to pretend or make believe 0

See all 8 definitions of play-act

Information block about the term

Origin of play-act

First appearance:

before 1895

One of the 18% newest English words

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

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Play-act

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of Play-act

play-act popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 62% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.

This word is included in each student's vocabulary. Most likely there is at least one movie with this word in the title.

Synonyms for play-act

noun play-act

bunco artist — a confidence trickster or con artist
caricaturist — A caricaturist is a person who shows other people in an exaggerated way in order to be humorous or critical, especially in drawings or cartoons.
casuist — a person, esp a theologian, who attempts to resolve moral dilemmas by the application of general rules and the careful distinction of special cases
dissembler — to give a false or misleading appearance to; conceal the truth or real nature of: to dissemble one's incompetence in business.
flimflammer — a trick or deception, especially a swindle or confidence game involving skillful persuasion or clever manipulation of the victim.

verb play-act

chicane — a bridge or whist hand without trumps
fool — to trick, deceive, or impose on: They tried to fool him.
fox — Free Objects for Crystallography
foxed — deceived; tricked.
foxing — material used to cover the upper portion of a shoe.

All 33 Synonyms of play-act