variants
or less commonly roleplay
role-played also roleplayed; role-playing also roleplaying; role-plays also roleplays
1
: to act out the role of
2
: to represent in action
students were asked to role-play the thoughts and feelings of each character—
R. G. Lambert
R. G. Lambert
: to play a role
role-play
noun
or less commonly roleplay
plural role-plays also roleplays
I practice this with student social workers through case studies and role-play.
—Kevin Brazant, quoted in psychologytoday.com
Kevin Brazant, quoted in psychologytoday.com
Examples of role-play in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Overall, Front Mission 3: Remake is a solid update to a classic mecha tactical role-playing game from the PlayStation era.
—Ollie Barder, Forbes.com, 12 July 2025
LLMs can role-play in remarkably human-like fashion: Research by Stanford and Google published earlier this year suggests that LLMs are able to simulate individual personalities closely enough to respond to certain types of surveys with 85% accuracy as the individuals themselves.
—François Candelon, Fortune, 11 July 2025
Gaming becomes a player Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Cinematic Cut
Special Screenings section
A world-famous role-playing game developed by Prague’s Warhorse Studios makes its cinematic debut as a film specially created for the Karlovy Vary festival.
—Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 2 July 2025
Lek likens the experience to entering the physical version of a free-roaming role-playing game.
—Leslie Katz, Forbes.com, 28 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for role-play
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Ollie Barder, Forbes.com, 12 July 2025
LLMs can role-play in remarkably human-like fashion: Research by Stanford and Google published earlier this year suggests that LLMs are able to simulate individual personalities closely enough to respond to certain types of surveys with 85% accuracy as the individuals themselves.
—François Candelon, Fortune, 11 July 2025
Gaming becomes a player Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Cinematic Cut
Special Screenings section
A world-famous role-playing game developed by Prague’s Warhorse Studios makes its cinematic debut as a film specially created for the Karlovy Vary festival.
—Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 2 July 2025
Lek likens the experience to entering the physical version of a free-roaming role-playing game.
—Leslie Katz, Forbes.com, 28 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for role-play
Cite this Entry
“Role-play.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/role-play. Accessed 21 Jul. 2025.
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