as in pretense
a display of emotion or behavior that is insincere or intended to deceive
it was clear to her friends that her reaction to the news was pure playacting
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Recent Examples of playacting
Emily Zarevich, JSTOR Daily, 11 Sep. 2025
Noun
Hence the infamous playacting subplot in her 1814 novel Mansfield Park, a novel written when Austen was at her professional peak.
—Emily Zarevich, JSTOR Daily, 11 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for playacting
Noun
-
Maybe the pretense was comforting to him, too.—
Cassandra Neyenesch,
New Yorker,
29 Mar. 2026
-
As architectural fashion has shifted, the software is no longer associated with complex geometry, and the pretense that digital tools might liberate architects—spurring them to new heights of creativity—has faded.—
Julian Rose,
Artforum,
26 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
It’s directed by Linus O’Brien, the son of Richard O’Brien, the British New Zealander who wrote the show (and played Riff Raff) and then went on a gender odyssey.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
3 Apr. 2026
-
Its top show was Cuomo, which averaged 289,000 viewers, up 65%, and 45,000 among adults 25-54, up 114%.—
Ted Johnson,
Deadline,
2 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
He was spotted in a blue jacket and white collared shirt hobnobbing and posing for photos with cast members and other event attendees.—
Peter D'Abrosca,
FOXNews.com,
3 Apr. 2026
-
Inspectors found that a detainee showing symptoms of TB was not isolated, posing a potential risk to others.—
Laura Romero,
ABC News,
3 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Set the scene At a cobblestoned intersection in the Tribeca North Historic District, an industrialist red brick facade gives way to eight floors of ethereal Art Deco interior design straight out of the South of France.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
2 Apr. 2026
-
Future plans include repurposing the building’s former drive-thru lane into an outdoor cafe and adding new jellyfish murals to its front facade.—
Phillip Valys,
Sun Sentinel,
1 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
After the shot missed wildly, mascots rushed the floor pretending the deep 3-pointer went through the net.—
Bennett Conlin,
Baltimore Sun,
2 Apr. 2026
-
Dayle’s satirical novel follows a white flag-bearer pretending to be a Black soldier during the Civil War.—
Mike Danahey,
Chicago Tribune,
2 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Those are fighting words, and, in the coming days, the Pope can counter them as much through symbolic acts as through words of peace.—
Paul Elie,
New Yorker,
4 Apr. 2026
-
For certain great artists, Meis believes, the creative act is a safe harbor where life’s pressures, exigencies, and calamities aren’t so much denied or resolved as reimagined as pictorial dramas.—
Jed Perl,
The New York Review of Books,
4 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
The moon, rather than Earth, was the main gravitational force acting on the Orion spacecraft.—
Kaia Hubbard,
CBS News,
6 Apr. 2026
-
The following month, a hit squad, reportedly acting on bin Salman’s orders, strangled Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist who had been critical of the regime, and used a bone saw to dismember his corpse.—
Ronan Farrow,
New Yorker,
6 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
In its many guises, idolatry has survived, despite regular and often cataclysmic proof of its dangers, for centuries and many people will consider a much-larger-than-life golden statue of a president to be perfectly splendid.—
Culture Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
1 Apr. 2026
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The Department of the Treasury last Thursday designated Hayat Yolu as a key player in a covert global network that uses the guise of humanitarian aid to raise money overseas.—
Bonny Chu,
FOXNews.com,
20 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Playacting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/playacting. Accessed 7 Apr. 2026.
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