play-act

• playact

play-act (third-person singular simple present play-acts, present participle play-acting, simple past and past participle play-acted)

1. (intransitive) To perform on stage; to act in a play.
2. (transitive) To play (a scene, role etc.); to act out.
   • 2019 January 11, Spencer Kornhaber, “Lady Gaga’s R. Kelly Apology Is a Reminder That Abuse Isn’t Provocative”, in The Atlantic‎^[1]:

     Kelly’s involvement made it a song not only about fame, but also about alleged sex across creepy power differentials. This wasn’t really even subtext: Gaga and Kelly playacted an Oval Office affair at the American Music Awards.

3. (intransitive, figuratively) To engage in pretence or insincere behavior, often in order to mislead someone or gain an advantage.
   • 2020 August 24, Jennifer Senior, “Let the Culture Wars Begin. Again.”, in The New York Times‎^[2]:

     The most Trump can imagine selling is himself, and what that self is is merely a hologram, a weightless shape. He play-acts at being a businessman. He play-acts at being a president. The only thing that’s authentic about him is his comic-book worldview, one divided between heroes and villains, us and them.

   • 2020 November 20, Owen Gleiberman, “‘Happiest Season’ Review: Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis in a Christmas Rom-Com That Earns Its Emotion”, in Variety‎^[3]:

     Abby, watching Harper give the closeted performance that she’s been giving her whole life, sees a side of her that she doesn’t like — the one who play-acts and denies herself almost too well.

   • 2022 September 8, Monica Hesse, “Queen Elizabeth II did her job”, in The Washington Post‎^[4]:

     Little girls aren’t taught to play-act at being queen. They play-act at being princesses, which is a much gauzier, more romantic kind of role.

4. (transitive, figuratively) To make a pretence of; to feign or simulate.
   • 2018 April 3, Nitsuh Abebe, “Why Have We Soured on the ‘Devil’s Advocate’?”, in The New York Times‎^[5]:

     If the devil’s advocate playacts disagreement with you for the sake of strengthening your argument, the concern troll is his mirror image, a person who pretends to agree with you in order to undermine you.

   • 2020 September 6, Simon Briggs, “Novak Djokovic possesses a volcanic intensity but sometimes that fire shows itself in unflattering ways”, in The Daily Telegraph‎^[6]:

     Asked after the match if Djokovic had been play-acting the symptoms of cramp, Murray replied “I don't know. I would hope that that wouldn't be the case. But, yeah, if it was cramp, that's a tough thing to recover from and play as well as he did at the end.”