as in to pose
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Recent Examples of playact
Today, Margaret would be playacting her own massacre in active shooter drills at school.
—
Petula Dvorak, Washington Post, 1 May 2023
Trump’s modus, as ever, was to playact; his game has always been improv.
—Joe Klein, Washington Post, 12 Jan. 2023
Trixie advises Alma to playact highness to flummox E.B.
—Matt Zoller Seitz, Vulture, 18 Dec. 2021
Today, this dynamic lives on in the form of Roblox strip clubs, where young people — mostly, minors — playact at adult sexuality.
—Ej Dickson, Rolling Stone, 12 Sep. 2021
The world had first required her to playact as a man.
—Will Stephenson, Harper's Magazine, 15 Sep. 2020
Yona has it better than the locals who have agreed to playact, and likely die, in Mui’s fake new disaster.
—Madeline Leung Coleman, The Atlantic, 13 Aug. 2020
In a twist, The Sims is now a way to playact not just an alternate life, but any life at all.
—Kaitlyn Tiffany, The Atlantic, 19 Apr. 2020
Cloud is almost childlike, a boy playacting at being a warrior and not always nailing the part.
—Julie Muncy, Wired, 10 Apr. 2020
Petula Dvorak, Washington Post, 1 May 2023
Trump’s modus, as ever, was to playact; his game has always been improv.
—Joe Klein, Washington Post, 12 Jan. 2023
Trixie advises Alma to playact highness to flummox E.B.
—Matt Zoller Seitz, Vulture, 18 Dec. 2021
Today, this dynamic lives on in the form of Roblox strip clubs, where young people — mostly, minors — playact at adult sexuality.
—Ej Dickson, Rolling Stone, 12 Sep. 2021
The world had first required her to playact as a man.
—Will Stephenson, Harper's Magazine, 15 Sep. 2020
Yona has it better than the locals who have agreed to playact, and likely die, in Mui’s fake new disaster.
—Madeline Leung Coleman, The Atlantic, 13 Aug. 2020
In a twist, The Sims is now a way to playact not just an alternate life, but any life at all.
—Kaitlyn Tiffany, The Atlantic, 19 Apr. 2020
Cloud is almost childlike, a boy playacting at being a warrior and not always nailing the part.
—Julie Muncy, Wired, 10 Apr. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for playact
Verb
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Even 6 inches of moving water can pose a serious risk of knocking you off your feet.—
NC Weather Bot,
Charlotte Observer,
14 May 2025
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Excessive heat can pose serious health risks to individuals working outside and the vulnerable.—
Joe Edwards,
MSNBC Newsweek,
14 May 2025
Verb
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The answer turns in no small measure on whether law is a business masquerading as a profession or a profession whose commitment to honor its Oath to uphold the Constitution and to defend the rule of law eclipses its (short-term) business interest.—
Mark A. Cohen,
Forbes.com,
12 May 2025
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Some of them overlooked realities like extreme heat, power outages, and near-zero internet bandwidth—while others tried solutions that were essentially file libraries masquerading as learning platforms.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
19 Apr. 2025
Verb
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That old man was Trump—who had just been hospitalized with COVID-19, but was pretending that everything was fine—and yet the column was about America’s gerontocracy as a whole, and what Smith suggested was an unsustainable media omertà around it.—
Jon Allsop,
New Yorker,
23 May 2025
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That’s the point of him; as the Mission: Impossible franchise’s secret agent extraordinaire, Hunt can pretend to be anyone, accomplish basically any physical task, and uncover conspiracies with aplomb.—
David Sims,
The Atlantic,
23 May 2025
Verb
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This ends up leaving her vulnerable, of course, but even so, Erivo chose a fragrance for the real Felicity before another sister begins impersonating her.—
Bill Desowitz,
IndieWire,
9 May 2025
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Armed with doctored invoices, the fraudsters impersonate the staff of legitimate companies in order to divert cargo into the hands of criminals.—
Courtney Reagan,Scott Zamost,
CNBC,
9 May 2025
Verb
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The agency's acting chief recently said FEMA plans to give states more responsibility for disaster recovery in anticipation of hurricane season, the Associated Press reported.—
Neal Earley,
Arkansas Online,
23 May 2025
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These tools act as governance sentinels, standing guard at the frontier of change.—
Shazia Manus,
Forbes.com,
23 May 2025
Verb
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While physicians don’t have a definitive answer as to why heart failure typically causes cognitive decline, the following factors may play a role: Changes to the heart.—
Kaitlin Sullivan,
Health,
16 May 2025
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The scenes with you and Erika Henningsen, who plays your ex’s young new girlfriend, are really fascinating.—
Andy Greene,
Rolling Stone,
15 May 2025
Verb
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Some firms, however, have more adaptable structures that allow for individual initiatives and self-managing networks of autonomous teams, that are assembled and dissembled as needs are met.—
Joe McKendrick,
Forbes.com,
26 Apr. 2025
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The Kill or Capture Presidency You’d like your government to tell you the truth, and the government dissembled repeatedly after the raid about what the rules of engagement were.—
Aryeh Neier,
The New York Review of Books,
3 Mar. 2025
Verb
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Her approach to maternity style, now on full display during her third pregnancy, isn’t about soft-focus portraits or feigned vulnerability but strategy and precision.—
Sughnen Yongo,
Forbes.com,
6 May 2025
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Despite feigning nonchalance during the interrogation, his own funny story betrays his true misery.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
4 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Playact.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/playact. Accessed 27 May. 2025.
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