Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To assume or represent in a drama; act out.
  • intransitive verb To assume or act out a particular role.
  • noun Role-playing.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb Alternative spelling of roleplay. Taking on a role (in the sense an actor has a role) and enacting or playing that character.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • We begin rehearsing it, and we either abandon it to take up a new one or practice it until we role-play that script as who we are.

    Eldon Taylor: The Rehearsal That Makes a Lifetime Difference Eldon Taylor 2011

  • (Domination and sexual role-play are both legal in New York.)

    Monica Shores: New York Teacher Punished for Sex Work Past Monica Shores 2010

  • They role-play bullying in school assemblies, teach tactics for defusing situations, and stress respect for everyone.

    Kristen Houghton: There Have Always Been Bullies Kristen Houghton 2011

  • We begin rehearsing it, and we either abandon it to take up a new one or practice it until we role-play that script as who we are.

    Eldon Taylor: The Rehearsal That Makes a Lifetime Difference Eldon Taylor 2011

  • They role-play bullying in school assemblies, teach tactics for defusing situations, and stress respect for everyone.

    Kristen Houghton: There Have Always Been Bullies Kristen Houghton 2011

  • If I had seen this as a series of lesson plans (with a nice progression from warmer ‘thought’ pieces, to language work and reading, listening and role-play) I would have been really impressed by the teacher in question.

    C is for Coursebook (by Lindsay Clandfield) « An A-Z of ELT 2010

  • In another game, the counselors described people who had been put into various situations and then asked the children to role-play.

    Red Flags or Red Herrings? Susan Engel 2011

  • Children can get the inside track on different democratic processes through a role-play activity where they take the parts of victorious Libyan rebels looking at the future direction of their country.

    How to teach… democracy 2011

  • In another game, the counselors described people who had been put into various situations and then asked the children to role-play.

    Red Flags or Red Herrings? Susan Engel 2011

  • "Elgin" is fine when it's good (like on the busy, lurching jam "Batteries"), but better when it's bad: "Kidnapped" is a modest banger about a couple who try to role-play their way out of a relationship rut (for Ginuwine, this is an ongoing theme) by playing kidnapper and kidnappee ("I'll dress up like a robber and wear all black/Nobody's gonna find out where I hid you at").

    Album review: Ginuwine's "Elgin" Post 2011

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