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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

roleplay en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • /ˈroʊl.pleɪ/ (General-American)
  • (UK) audio
  • /ˈrəʊl.pleɪ/ (UK)

Etymology

From role (“expected behavior”) + play (“perform, act”).

Meanings

  1. (countable, uncountable) The act or practice of roleplaying; an instance of roleplaying.
    • Lesbian, 34, seeks lesbians who enjoy occasional anal sex and role plays. Light s/m ok too. 1985 August 17, “Personal advertisement”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 6, page 13:
    • Roy: Let's do some roleplay, OK? Do you think that would be a good idea? Moss: It helped me learn how to buy sandwiches. 2008 November 21, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 3, Episode 1
  2. (countable, uncountable) The practice of roleplaying.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
role-play alternative lexicographic
rôle play alternative, dated lexicographic
role play alternative lexicographic
rôleplay alternative, dated lexicographic
roleplays Number=Plur lexicographic
rôle-play alternative, dated lexicographic

Relateds

LARP · RPG · roleplayer

Synonyms

RP

roleplay en · VERB

Pronunciation

  • /ˈroʊl.pleɪ/ (General-American)
  • (UK) audio
  • /ˈrəʊl.pleɪ/ (UK)

Etymology

From role (“expected behavior”) + play (“perform, act”).

Meanings

  1. (intransitive) To act out a scenario or fantasy with another person or other people.
    • To spice up their sex life, they like to roleplay.
  2. (transitive) To act as a character as part of a fantasy, especially with a group.
    • He likes to roleplay a vampire.
    • The particular person roleplaying Beatty in that battle suggested summarily executing Seymour and dumping him overboard. 2018 October 17, Drachinifel, 30:18 from the start, in Last Ride of the High Seas Fleet - Battle of Texel 1918, archived from the original on 04 Aug 2022:
  3. (intransitive, transitive) To act out a social role, especially one that one does not truly belong to.
    • He talks like he's some scrappy bootstrap entrepreneur but he's just some old money rich kid roleplaying.
    • Realizing that she was an 'other' not only as a black woman but also as a black lesbian, she struggles to fiind someplace where she and other black lesbians like herself could live out their existence without role-playing or conforming to the ideals that were prevalent in the bars at that time. 1982 December 11, Catherine Joseph, “Breaking Barriers”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 21, page 10:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
roleplays Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
roleplaying Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
rôle-play alternative, dated lexicographic
role-play alternative lexicographic
role play alternative lexicographic
rôle play alternative, dated lexicographic
roleplayed Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
roleplayed Tense=Past lexicographic
rôleplay alternative, dated lexicographic

Coordinates

pass (act out a social role)

Translations (7)

es dramatizar (To act as a character as part of a fantasy, especially with a group.) · fr rôler (To act as a character as part of a fantasy, especially with a group.) · es teatralizar (To act as a character as part of a fantasy, especially with a group.) · es jugar a roles (To act as a character as part of a fantasy, especially with a group.) · es simular (To act as a character as part of a fantasy, especially with a group.) · es actuar (To act as a character as part of a fantasy, especially with a group.) · es rolear (To act as a character as part of a fantasy, especially with a group.)