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
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Officials say, at this time, the incident does not pose a danger to the public.—
Jesse Zanger,
CBS News,
15 Apr. 2026
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The seven defendants are charged with culpable homicide, a crime similar to involuntary manslaughter that alleges that the accused were aware that their reckless conduct posed a risk and failed to prevent it.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
14 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Most guys can get by without an aftershave, no shortage of which are fragrance conduits masquerading as moisturizers.—
Justin Fenner,
Robb Report,
11 Mar. 2026
-
Even the biggest indie acts of the last 15 years or so tend to be solo singer-songwriters masquerading as bands, but Brooklyn’s Geese, the buzziest rock band in years, are a total exception.—
Brian Hiatt,
Rolling Stone,
8 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
Given the dollar amounts of current NIL and revenue sharing agreements, pretending college athletes are not employees is ludicrous.—
Jim Alexander,
Oc Register,
11 Apr. 2026
-
One day, Jaime is detained by a security guard at a shopping mall, and Matías must ask a stranger to pretend to be their father in order to help free him.—
Christian Zilko,
IndieWire,
9 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
In 2023, Reuters reported that two of its reporters in China were being impersonated via Instagram and Telegram accounts that were attempting to get information on activists protesting the country’s COVID-19 policies.—
Robert Faturechi,
ProPublica,
11 Apr. 2026
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This follows a wave of scam emails reported in late February, where fraudsters were impersonating the SSA.—
Jasmin Suknanan,
CNBC,
10 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The three-day event draws more than 100,000 fans every year for the festival, which headlines largely country music acts while raising money for marine conservation.—
Joan Murray,
CBS News,
12 Apr. 2026
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In the years since the show went off the air, Per Sullivan stopped acting and chose a private life outside the public eye.—
Meredith Wilshere,
PEOPLE,
11 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Kuruc committed last month to UIC, solidifying her future plans and fulfilling a longtime goal to follow in Dwyer’s shoes and play Division I soccer.—
Steve Millar,
Chicago Tribune,
15 Apr. 2026
-
Anze Kopitar played his final game at Rogers Arena and registered an assist on Kempe's second-period goal.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
15 Apr. 2026
Verb
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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
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Of particular concern, the organization took steps to hide its money in shell political action committees and coordinated donations via individual donors while the candidates who benefited often feigned ignorance about enormous donations and expenditures.—
Jesse Jackson Jr,
Chicago Tribune,
2 Apr. 2026
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Institutions that once at least feigned being an ally are now demonstrating the opposite.—
Ron Stodghill,
Miami Herald,
23 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Playact.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/playact. Accessed 17 Apr. 2026.
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