playact

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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 Trump’s modus, as ever, was to playact; his game has always been improv. Joe Klein, Washington Post, 12 Jan. 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 In a twist, The Sims is now a way to playact not just an alternate life, but any life at all. Kaitlyn Tiffany, The Atlantic, 19 Apr. 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
  • Especially in the restaurant’s early weeks, Cooper was regularly in the kitchen, working the grill with vigor, occasionally breaking to pose for selfies.
    Helen Rosner, New Yorker, 20 Apr. 2025
  • Visitors pose at the site of Osaka’s 1970 World Expo, now a park.
    Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times, New York Times, 20 Apr. 2025
Verb
  • The bulletin issued by Ukraine's Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-UA) on March 18 indicates that attacks started this month, with Signal messages containing links to archived messages, masquerading as meeting reports.
    Joanne Stocker, CBS News, 25 Mar. 2025
  • The second letter contained more personal information which would enable the recipient to masquerade as a friend of Angela’s, Gatchis said.
    Andi Babineau and Ray Sanchez, CNN, 14 Feb. 2025
Verb
  • Read: America is done pretending about meat All of this social-media attention has been translating into people’s actual eating habits, Victoria Fitzgerald, who oversees Whole Foods Market’s meat merchandising, told me.
    Valerie Trapp, The Atlantic, 17 Apr. 2025
  • One such channel, Truthful Mykolaiv, pretends to be local but pushes Kremlin narratives.
    Thomas G. Moukawsher, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Apr. 2025
Verb
  • Often these scams will impersonate a retailer or shipping company to fool the victim.
    James Peckham, PC Magazine, 17 Apr. 2025
  • Since its inception, Saturday Night Live has been impersonating public figures, from reality TV stars to movie stars to politicians and every profession in between.
    Stephanie Sengwe, People.com, 14 Apr. 2025
Verb
  • Town hall meetings are likely to continue acting as a lightning rod for those angry about the Trump administration's policies.
    Thomas G. Moukawsher, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Apr. 2025
  • Teaching candidates who go through a four-year degree program or a high-quality alternative certification program spend many hours in classrooms watching effective teachers working with students and acting as student teachers themselves.
    Silas Allen, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 17 Apr. 2025
Verb
  • Vick had a career-high 540 yards rushing in 1988 and played only four NFL seasons.
    Jim Reineking, USA Today, 22 Apr. 2025
  • How Nvidia plays export whack-a-mole Culture champion.
    Lily Mae Lazarus, Fortune, 21 Apr. 2025
Verb
  • The Kill or Capture Presidency You’d like your government to tell you the truth, and the government dissembled repeatedly after the raid about what the rules of engagement were.
    Aryeh Neier, The New York Review of Books, 3 Mar. 2025
  • Think about it like dissembling something and then putting it together in a fresh way!
    Quora, Forbes, 7 Oct. 2024
Verb
  • Jenna Bush Hager Says Daughter Mila Got 'Overwhelmed' by Secret Service Spending Time with First Lady Laura Bush Guthrie's carousel also featured a picture of the girls at the end of the party, posing on a red truck while Mila feigned a yawn.
    Hannah Sacks, People.com, 13 Apr. 2025
  • Putin is not feigning peace to stay on Trump’s good side merely to gobble up more Ukrainian territory.
    Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 11 Apr. 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Playact.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/playact. Accessed 25 Apr. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!