play-act
Perform make-believe scenes
Play-act is to perform dramatically, especially in an exaggerated or insincere way.
Children play-act scenes from movies or imagine themselves as superheroes.
Adults who play-act are pretending—feigning emotions or roles they don't genuinely feel: She play-acted surprise when they told her the news.
The implication is usually that the performance is transparent or unconvincing.
Pretend to have
- fakeNot the real thing
- shamFraudulent imitation
- bluffCalculated false front
- dissembleConceal one's motives
deceive · charade · masquerade · pose · affect · fabricate · mislead · put-on
feign
Pretend to have
dissemble · deceive · charade · masquerade · pose · affect · fabricate · mislead · put-on · falsify
imitate
Reproduce another's behavior
- impersonateAssume another's identity
- mimicOne who copies others
- parrotSpeech-mimicking tropical bird
ape · mock · caricature · lampoon · send up · spoof · burlesque · pantomime · reenact · emulate
rehearse
Practice before performing
role · script · monologue · dialogue · audition · blocking · cue · director · stage · costume
- pretend playmake believe, pretend, dress-up, dollhouse, dress up
- pretendingpretend, pretending, fake, feign, make-believe