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
-
Call it polish without pretense.—
Lisa Lockwood,
Footwear News,
17 Feb. 2026
-
This is not an e-bike; there are no pedals and, interestingly, no pretense of a bicycle categorization to blur regulatory lines.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
4 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Figure skating is like a pageant wrapped in a game show with a little bit of reality show thrown in.—
Dana O’Neil,
CNN Money,
20 Feb. 2026
-
Earlier in the show, Chioma tells Choe how British Vogue’s Gisele Pelicot digital cover story came to be.—
Chelsea Daniel,
Vogue,
20 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip posing for a family photo with their four children outside at Frogmore House in Windsor.—
Lori A Bashian,
FOXNews.com,
20 Feb. 2026
-
Those encounters can quickly escalate, posing a danger to students and the public, the Police Department said.—
Alex Wigglesworth,
Los Angeles Times,
20 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Now, the spot has undergone a careful restoration of its facades just steps from Como’s city center.—
Nicole Hoey,
Robb Report,
18 Feb. 2026
-
There’s enormous relief in letting go of the facade of perfect containment or the need to perform goodness.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
18 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
When Game 3 of the 1917 World Series between the White Sox and New York Giants was rained out, Lardner was in New York and wrote a fictional column pretending the game had actually been played.—
Paul Sullivan,
Chicago Tribune,
15 Feb. 2026
-
Naturally, Liz decides to create her own rom-com HAE and rope Wes into helping her win Michael’s heart by pretending to fake date each other.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
13 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
The act allows the president to push industries to create materials and goods for national defense.—
Eduardo Cuevas,
USA Today,
21 Feb. 2026
-
Enter Sheila, a street magician blackballed by the local boys club who wows Lincoln with her tips-only act.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
20 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
The common factor in all of this is the Federal Reserve (albeit acting in very good faith in response to successive defense, financial and health crises) increased the amount of money sloshing around relative to the size of the economy to unprecedented levels.—
Edward Lotterman,
Twin Cities,
15 Feb. 2026
-
Hetzel’s contributions to the documentation and preservation of Imperial County history cannot be understated, acting as a valuable resource into understanding the truth of county infrastructure, development and industry.—
Michael James Rocha,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
15 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
The government insisted his case had nothing to do with press freedom, saying the defendants used journalism as a guise to commit acts that harmed Hong Kong and China.—
Kanis Leung,
Los Angeles Times,
10 Feb. 2026
-
Both marques returned to the competition this year in new guises.—
Viju Mathew,
Robb Report,
10 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Playacting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/playacting. Accessed 22 Feb. 2026.
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