Definition of play-act in English:

play-act

verb

[no object]

1Act in a play.
we've made a craft of play-acting
Example sentencesExamples
- Mrs Ritchie, not so much expressing herself, but play-acting.
- And when they make love near the beginning of the movie, they are play-acting.
- But whatever you do, don't play-act like you're an air-headed, not-so-cerebral, mush-for-brains girl.
- My kid's only 5, so it's a bit different for him, but he goes to regular sessions where he basically learns to play-act through a lot of imaginative and social situations.
- Bennie and Walter play-act in a repetitive chant, as Ruth embarrassingly answers the door to let in George Murchison.
- But I was only play-acting to avoid embarrassment.
- Did you think ‘my God, I and everyone else in this room are play-acting and in doing so are betraying our profession and holding the public in total contempt’?
- On top of this the Italians are genuinely entertaining: they cook pasta, sing, dance, argue passionately, flirt relentlessly and fall on the floor play-acting.
- Benson had said he believed the children had been play-acting for the camera.
- Dodgson made a game of the sessions, so the girls may be play-acting; but the lens confers an inescapable awareness of separateness, bound up with seeing and being seen.
- What will follow is rather odd: I'll find myself spontaneously kind of play-acting, having a sort of two-way exchange where I'll say something and then respond to myself as that being.
- That's what I wear when I'm play-acting as a magician, or I get into a suit when I have to make a deal I don't want to - like going to court.
- More concretely, it became a film about the ability of women ‘to play-act, to fake.’
- Don't play-act being more tired than you are, or be mentally weak enough to give in before you have to, and then training and playing rugby is so simple.
- She spends money loose and fast, but she also knows how to play-act.
- The idea is that a player would not play-act because he would reduce his team to ten men while he is off the field waiting to be waved back on.
- Was he simply play-acting, trying to keep expectations low so he would be underestimated?
- He wore a bullet-proof vest and play-acted into a walkie-talkie saying ‘Roger’ and ‘Over’ to convince locals he was a genuine police officer.
- You've lived some stuff I've only play-acted.
- There has never been a true bond between the two, beyond that of two children, play-acting.
1. 1.1with object Act (a scene, role, etc.)
  they were play-acting a western duel
  Example sentencesExamples
  With the next student, Bobby started play-acting devil's advocate, firing questions and posing hypothetical situations to him.
  Girls are much more likely to play house, or to play-act their favorite stories or movies.
  He also appears to be a racist, which is the first tip-off that he's play-acting the grudge and must be up to something more meaningful in his plottings around camp.
  He's the rich kid play-acting war, the symbol and not the substance of the soldier.
  In ID4, Smith's partner (Harry Connick, Jr.) play-acts a marriage proposal to him in a locker room.
  It is one thing to play-act the gender role of frightened female in a movie theater where the horror is only simulated, but do I want to perform that same gender construction in real life?
  With the whole schoolgirl thing, the ‘doing-something-I-shouldn't be-doing’ aspect is what adds the charge, and at School Disco, people, men at least, can play-act this.
  One unfortunately tends to forget that Andie is play-acting dumb.
  Early in their lives, they often spend entire afternoons play-acting imaginary scenarios.
  Psychodrama is play-acting events during therapy and may include elements of enactment, role play, or make believe.
  The two women, Ruth and Anna, have play-acted these characters over the years as a way of relieving tensions.
  Subsequently, the duke joins in on the masquerade, play-acting the threat of sexual violence against Zidler - a rehearsal for his actions later in the film.
  Once it is done you can force them to play-act The Next Generation with you.
  Yve, kindly lady that she is, came to rescue me - but all for naught, as she was swept up into the lively gavotte before she could play-act knight in shining armor.
  Someone would always be practising the harpsichord or the violin and there was much reading aloud, dressing-up and play-acting.
  Yet, at the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit just last week, it was difficult to imagine that this talented couple was only play-acting the romantic ambience that they were creating up there on the Bangkok stage.
  They will see the world differently and may not be so eager to play-act violence.
  Like Madhur Jaffrey, some of them play-act Hindu stories or rituals, and young girls in particular may have real roles to perform as handmaidens of the Goddess in ceremonies associated with her worship.
  Here are two parties play-acting a phoney war - and wondering why voters yawn.
  Synonyms
  pretend, sham, fake, feign, put it on, bluff, pose, posture, masquerade, dissemble, dissimulate
2. 1.2usually as noun play-acting Engage in histrionic pretence.
  the defender indulged in some play-acting after tumbling to the ground
  Example sentencesExamples
  Her bloodlessness functions at times as delicacy here, especially in the awkward courtship scenes, but her acting always seems like play-acting to me.
  Celtic cannot hold a candle to their UEFA Cup semi-final opponents when it comes to the ‘by any means necessary’ approach that makes virtues of biting, scratching and play-acting.
  Again I suggest using play-acting because it helps them get into the situation and think things through.
  Movies are magic because they conjure powerful emotions from light, forms, sound, and play-acting.
  Curtains around the lower bunk provide fodder for endless hours of peekaboo, play-acting, and fort-building.
  The befuddled silliness might be genuine gold or it might be play-acting.
  Otherwise it's pretending, play-acting, not really living.
  Not that anything's wrong with recreation that involves a little dress-up or play-acting, being a bit more like you want to be instead of (let's face it) who you know you are.
  But something else, something quite profound, also arises out of this musical-chair play-acting: the sense that bodies are receptacles for all manner of life forces to pass through.
  Also had a couple of storming, skilful bursts up the park, although his penchant for play-acting rankled throughout and eventually earned him a booking.
  They love, I suspect, exactly those things that make him problematic: his passion for play-acting, for drama over truth.
  It was play-acting, pure and simple, Borthwick declared.
  Mentalizing is pervasive in everyday life, in communication and co-operation, in pedagogy, in play-acting, but also in deceiving, cheating, and outwitting.
  Synonyms
  pretend, put it on, fake, sham, bluff, pose, posture, masquerade, make believe, act, go through the motions, put on a false display

Derivatives

play-actor

noun

Clearly happy to live in some pantomime version of the distant Celtic past, these shabby play-actors only serve to give the concrete jungle a good name.
Example sentencesExamples
- Beyond this, we now find Prime Ministers who are unconscious play-actors, living out tragicomic careers as if for all the world they were indeed the authentic rulers of our time.
- The diving play-actors, on whom referees have been instructed to clamp down, will draw scant consolation from that as they take an early bath.

单词	play-act
释义	Definition of play-act in English: play-act verb [no object] 1Act in a play. we've made a craft of play-acting Example sentencesExamples Mrs Ritchie, not so much expressing herself, but play-acting. And when they make love near the beginning of the movie, they are play-acting. But whatever you do, don't play-act like you're an air-headed, not-so-cerebral, mush-for-brains girl. My kid's only 5, so it's a bit different for him, but he goes to regular sessions where he basically learns to play-act through a lot of imaginative and social situations. Bennie and Walter play-act in a repetitive chant, as Ruth embarrassingly answers the door to let in George Murchison. But I was only play-acting to avoid embarrassment. Did you think ‘my God, I and everyone else in this room are play-acting and in doing so are betraying our profession and holding the public in total contempt’? On top of this the Italians are genuinely entertaining: they cook pasta, sing, dance, argue passionately, flirt relentlessly and fall on the floor play-acting. Benson had said he believed the children had been play-acting for the camera. Dodgson made a game of the sessions, so the girls may be play-acting; but the lens confers an inescapable awareness of separateness, bound up with seeing and being seen. What will follow is rather odd: I'll find myself spontaneously kind of play-acting, having a sort of two-way exchange where I'll say something and then respond to myself as that being. That's what I wear when I'm play-acting as a magician, or I get into a suit when I have to make a deal I don't want to - like going to court. More concretely, it became a film about the ability of women ‘to play-act, to fake.’ Don't play-act being more tired than you are, or be mentally weak enough to give in before you have to, and then training and playing rugby is so simple. She spends money loose and fast, but she also knows how to play-act. The idea is that a player would not play-act because he would reduce his team to ten men while he is off the field waiting to be waved back on. Was he simply play-acting, trying to keep expectations low so he would be underestimated? He wore a bullet-proof vest and play-acted into a walkie-talkie saying ‘Roger’ and ‘Over’ to convince locals he was a genuine police officer. You've lived some stuff I've only play-acted. There has never been a true bond between the two, beyond that of two children, play-acting. 1.1with object Act (a scene, role, etc.) they were play-acting a western duel Example sentencesExamples With the next student, Bobby started play-acting devil's advocate, firing questions and posing hypothetical situations to him. Girls are much more likely to play house, or to play-act their favorite stories or movies. He also appears to be a racist, which is the first tip-off that he's play-acting the grudge and must be up to something more meaningful in his plottings around camp. He's the rich kid play-acting war, the symbol and not the substance of the soldier. In ID4, Smith's partner (Harry Connick, Jr.) play-acts a marriage proposal to him in a locker room. It is one thing to play-act the gender role of frightened female in a movie theater where the horror is only simulated, but do I want to perform that same gender construction in real life? With the whole schoolgirl thing, the ‘doing-something-I-shouldn't be-doing’ aspect is what adds the charge, and at School Disco, people, men at least, can play-act this. One unfortunately tends to forget that Andie is play-acting dumb. Early in their lives, they often spend entire afternoons play-acting imaginary scenarios. Psychodrama is play-acting events during therapy and may include elements of enactment, role play, or make believe. The two women, Ruth and Anna, have play-acted these characters over the years as a way of relieving tensions. Subsequently, the duke joins in on the masquerade, play-acting the threat of sexual violence against Zidler - a rehearsal for his actions later in the film. Once it is done you can force them to play-act The Next Generation with you. Yve, kindly lady that she is, came to rescue me - but all for naught, as she was swept up into the lively gavotte before she could play-act knight in shining armor. Someone would always be practising the harpsichord or the violin and there was much reading aloud, dressing-up and play-acting. Yet, at the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit just last week, it was difficult to imagine that this talented couple was only play-acting the romantic ambience that they were creating up there on the Bangkok stage. They will see the world differently and may not be so eager to play-act violence. Like Madhur Jaffrey, some of them play-act Hindu stories or rituals, and young girls in particular may have real roles to perform as handmaidens of the Goddess in ceremonies associated with her worship. Here are two parties play-acting a phoney war - and wondering why voters yawn. Synonyms pretend, sham, fake, feign, put it on, bluff, pose, posture, masquerade, dissemble, dissimulate 1.2usually as noun play-acting Engage in histrionic pretence. the defender indulged in some play-acting after tumbling to the ground Example sentencesExamples Her bloodlessness functions at times as delicacy here, especially in the awkward courtship scenes, but her acting always seems like play-acting to me. Celtic cannot hold a candle to their UEFA Cup semi-final opponents when it comes to the ‘by any means necessary’ approach that makes virtues of biting, scratching and play-acting. Again I suggest using play-acting because it helps them get into the situation and think things through. Movies are magic because they conjure powerful emotions from light, forms, sound, and play-acting. Curtains around the lower bunk provide fodder for endless hours of peekaboo, play-acting, and fort-building. The befuddled silliness might be genuine gold or it might be play-acting. Otherwise it's pretending, play-acting, not really living. Not that anything's wrong with recreation that involves a little dress-up or play-acting, being a bit more like you want to be instead of (let's face it) who you know you are. But something else, something quite profound, also arises out of this musical-chair play-acting: the sense that bodies are receptacles for all manner of life forces to pass through. Also had a couple of storming, skilful bursts up the park, although his penchant for play-acting rankled throughout and eventually earned him a booking. They love, I suspect, exactly those things that make him problematic: his passion for play-acting, for drama over truth. It was play-acting, pure and simple, Borthwick declared. Mentalizing is pervasive in everyday life, in communication and co-operation, in pedagogy, in play-acting, but also in deceiving, cheating, and outwitting. Synonyms pretend, put it on, fake, sham, bluff, pose, posture, masquerade, make believe, act, go through the motions, put on a false display Derivatives play-actor noun Clearly happy to live in some pantomime version of the distant Celtic past, these shabby play-actors only serve to give the concrete jungle a good name. Example sentencesExamples Beyond this, we now find Prime Ministers who are unconscious play-actors, living out tragicomic careers as if for all the world they were indeed the authentic rulers of our time. The diving play-actors, on whom referees have been instructed to clamp down, will draw scant consolation from that as they take an early bath.
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