as in pretense
a display of emotion or behavior that is insincere or intended to deceive
it was clear to her friends that her reaction to the news was pure playacting
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Recent Examples of playacting
Emily Zarevich, JSTOR Daily, 11 Sep. 2025
Noun
Hence the infamous playacting subplot in her 1814 novel Mansfield Park, a novel written when Austen was at her professional peak.
—Emily Zarevich, JSTOR Daily, 11 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for playacting
Noun
-
The 2025 Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act, or HEAR Act, expands on a 2016 law, signed by President Barack Obama, that permits victims and descendants of victims of the Holocaust to lay legal claim to works of art looted by the Nazis or sold to the Nazis under false pretenses.—
Jackie Hajdenberg,
Sun Sentinel,
20 Apr. 2026
-
People finally get to see me, and there's no pretense about that.—
Cara Lynn Shultz,
PEOPLE,
18 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The roughly thirty-pound latex belly that Harbour wore to give Floyd extra heft is on full display in the show’s final episode, when Floyd and Clark strip down to their boxer briefs and dance by the pool lockers in a kind of tête-à-tête disco.—
Alexandra Schwartz,
New Yorker,
24 Apr. 2026
-
The many attending assistants around her eventually disperse — a little hesitantly because Sam is in the middle of preparing a new show — and the two withdraw to Sam’s cavernous studio.—
Jake Coyle,
Boston Herald,
24 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
The post features a photo of the new couple posing in front of Disney's Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom in Florida.—
Ingrid Vasquez,
PEOPLE,
22 Apr. 2026
-
In the midst of a conflict seen as posing an existential threat to the regime that has ruled their country for nearly half a century, Khamenei has been conspicuously absent.—
Mostafa Salem,
CNN Money,
21 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Scandals and secrets will be revealed, facades will crumble, and families and friendships will change forever on both sides of the battlefield as this group of strong, game-changing influencers comes together to build their answer to #MomTok.—
Michael Schneider,
Variety,
23 Apr. 2026
-
The family room offers three walls of windows, a fireplace with an authentic late-1800s cast-iron facade, granite mantel and a polished nickel and crystal drum chandelier.—
Saleema Syed,
Chicago Tribune,
21 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
In the office a week later, Jones continued pacing back and forth in the warehouse, pretending to be in a war movie while Buckley was in the hallway, calling the police.—
Josh Owens,
HollywoodReporter,
14 Apr. 2026
-
Kingston police launched an investigation last week after the Silver Lake Regional High School employee, whose name was not released, was allegedly seen having conversations with a social media streamer pretending to be a young girl.—
Matt Schooley,
CBS News,
14 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Jimmie Fowlie and Ceara O’Sullivan’s script relies on formulaic coming-of-age beats before drifting unexpectedly into absurdism in the third act.—
Christian Zilko,
IndieWire,
17 Apr. 2026
-
The filing alleges Hayes fired without warning and that Avery did not pose an immediate threat, was not advancing toward anyone, and was not engaging in any violent act at the time.—
Christopher Harris,
CBS News,
17 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
The Lakers were connected, apparently having had time to adjust to the loss of their two leading scorers, LeBron James acting as a brilliant playmaker for scorching hot shooters like Kennard, who hit all five of his treys in scoring a career playoff-high 27 points.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
19 Apr. 2026
-
Joseph Gerbasi, who spent decades in the division, retired in March of 2025 from his role as acting deputy chief for policy in the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section, a group that has now been merged into the division's section on money laundering.—
Aysha Bagchi,
USA Today,
19 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Then, in the late nineteenth century, the mandolin experienced a second flowering, albeit in a different guise.—
Tim Parks,
New Yorker,
11 Apr. 2026
-
These projects reveal the evil lurking underneath the guises of killers who were so often hiding in plain sight.—
Katie Rife,
Entertainment Weekly,
7 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Playacting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/playacting. Accessed 25 Apr. 2026.
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