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
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
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
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
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
-
Flights must regularly avoid regions deemed unsafe for civilian aircraft, from conflict zones to areas where other military activity poses risks.—
Zach Levitt,
New York Times,
12 Mar. 2026
-
Damaged or defunct spacecraft also pose a growing problem.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
12 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
Communication is a maze of deflections, accusations disguised as jokes, taunts masquerading as sincerity.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
24 Feb. 2026
-
That mindset allows mediocrity to masquerade as patience.—
Mike Bianchi,
The Orlando Sentinel,
21 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Jen has been complaining to Zac that Whitney only pretends to be her friend on camera.—
Kathleen Walsh,
Vulture,
14 Mar. 2026
-
The hypocrite pretends to be good because the hypocrite believes that society admires good and condemns wrong.—
David Frum,
The Atlantic,
13 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
So don't go off topic, don't impersonate anyone, and don't get your facts wrong.—
Damon Wise,
Deadline,
14 Mar. 2026
-
He was wanted for impersonating a law enforcement officer and had claimed to be one while recruiting for his business that placed off-duty officers in security jobs, CBS News reported.—
Michael Dorgan,
FOXNews.com,
14 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
The observations suggest that the dense dusty torus in NGC 6302 may act as a protective shield, allowing frozen carbon dioxide to survive despite the harsh radiation nearby.—
Rupendra Brahambhatt,
Interesting Engineering,
15 Mar. 2026
-
Rodin gave up acting in his late teens, preferring to bury himself in books and music.—
Alex Ross,
New Yorker,
14 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The conception meant that the show would need multiple actors playing Scarpetta, with one as the lead of the series.—
Emily Zemler,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Mar. 2026
-
Phillips also played a complete season in 2025 after seeing two separate significant injuries end his seasons in 2023 (Achilles) and 2024 (ACL).—
Alex Zietlow,
Charlotte Observer,
11 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
Nor have the Trumps dissembled about Amazon’s payment of forty million dollars for the rights to the film—more than twice as much as the second-highest bid—with twenty-eight million reportedly flowing directly to the First Lady.—
David D. Kirkpatrick,
New Yorker,
8 Feb. 2026
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With his multi-instrumentalist bandmates, PJ Moore and co-songwriter Robert Bell, Buchanan zooms into these exchanges to prolong them or dissembles them into jagged pieces that leave the bigger picture to us.—
Sam Sodomsky,
Pitchfork,
1 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Sanchez's 12-year-old son, Marcus Figueroa, was stabbed 25 times and feigned death in order to survive.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
12 Mar. 2026
-
Dillon Brooks antagonizing, Devin Booker feigning indifference.—
Jason Quick,
New York Times,
2 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Playact.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/playact. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.
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