play house
Backyard kid shelter
To play house is to imitate domestic life, typically said of children pretending to be parents running a household: The kids spent all afternoon playing house with their dolls.
Extended to adults, it suggests an informal or uncommitted living arrangement, often cohabitation without marriage: They're just playing house—I doubt they'll actually get married.
make-believe
Imaginative play or fantasy
- imaginationFaculty for forming ideas
- dress-upPlay involving costumes
- tea partyAfternoon refreshment gathering
dolls · stuffed animals · playmates · costumes · fantasy · childhood · mimicry · imitation · parents · family
- make-believefake crying, air guitar
pretend vs. real
play housereality
What actually exists
real life · truth · the real thing · keep house · bricks and mortar
play vs. work
play housework
Effort toward a goal
keep house · domestic labor · housework · chores · homemaking