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
-
This week’s truncating of the schedule removed whatever pretense remained that Kennedy’s HHS would respect the scientific process for making decisions about vaccines even when that process was dominated by allies who had already taken action to roll back recommendations.—
Grayson Logue,
Washington Post,
9 Jan. 2026
-
But gone are the days when those books were displayed to show off the intellect and interests of their owners — and with it, the pretense, at least, that their owners had read them.—
Judith Martin,
Mercury News,
9 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Earlier in the night, host Nikki Glaser cracked a joke about the show's hype.—
Nick Romano,
Entertainment Weekly,
12 Jan. 2026
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As part of the unique treatment — Challis Davy always likes to throw in surprises — some of the artists will be portrayed by actors who will appear throughout the Irvine Bowl outdoor amphitheatre during the shows.—
Erika I. Ritchie,
Oc Register,
12 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Allen, who couldn't attend the award show in person due to his football responsibilities, reposted a photo of Steinfeld posing on the red carpet in chic maternity style to his Instagram Stories.—
Skyler Caruso,
PEOPLE,
12 Jan. 2026
-
Users have prompted the chatbot to generate images of people in bikinis and posing suggestively, causing distress to hundreds of thousands of women worldwide.—
Lex Harvey,
CNN Money,
12 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
So, try the spread at Trinquet, a cozy restaurant in the Old Town, the historic center where some facades date back to the medieval period.—
Liz Provencher,
Travel + Leisure,
9 Jan. 2026
-
City staff is recommending that signage should be limited to one per façade for a total of four wall signs, city officials wrote in a planning report.—
Mary Divine,
Twin Cities,
9 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Parents reported that their children loved playing with the original Nékojita FuFu, pretending to fan their faces and blow-dry their hair.—
Sujita Sinha,
Interesting Engineering,
6 Jan. 2026
-
How naïve must Trump be to believe that Putin cares about Ukraine’s well-being after invading it, killing thousands of its people, kidnapping tens of thousands of Ukrainian children back to Russia, and continuing to bomb civilian apartment buildings while pretending to negotiate a peace deal?—
Tom Zirpoli,
Baltimore Sun,
6 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The prosecutor's office said a 16-year-old boy from Sayreville was arrested and charged with acts of juvenile delinquency which if committed by an adult would constitute murder, weapons charges and armed riot.—
Katie Houlis,
CBS News,
11 Jan. 2026
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And when unlawful acts are committed, hold individuals accountable.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
10 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Culkin was just four years old when his acting career began.—
Emlyn Travis,
Entertainment Weekly,
12 Jan. 2026
-
In 2026, Elordi snagged two acting nominations at the Golden Globes, including Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for his role in Frankenstein.—
Brianne Tracy,
PEOPLE,
12 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
The Skechers shoes boast a low-profile silhouette, plus a slip-on design despite their lace-up guise.—
Kyra Surgent,
InStyle,
30 Dec. 2025
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Approved by The Boss himself, the live-music and storytelling show finds Azaria slipping into his best Springsteen guise for a night of gruff tales and greatest hits.—
John Wenzel,
Denver Post,
24 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Playacting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/playacting. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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