playing dead
Motionless survival tactic
Playing dead is remaining motionless to appear lifeless.
Animals play dead as a survival instinct—opossums famously go limp when threatened.
Humans play dead to survive attacks or accidents: She played dead until the shooter left.
Figuratively, it means feigning ignorance or inaction to avoid confrontation: The committee played dead on the ethics complaint.
Pretending to feel something
- pretenseDeceptive outward show
- bluffCalculated false front
- shamFraudulent imitation
- charadeAbsurd or obvious pretense
ruse · ploy · trickery · guile · artifice · dissimulation · hoax · gambit
Pouch-bearing mammal
- predatorOrganism that consumes others
- escapeFlight from captivity
- avoidanceDeliberate keeping away
- instinctInnate behavioral tendency
prey · threat · evasion · reflex · freeze · immobility · stillness · unresponsive
Planned approach to goals
- defenseProtection against harm
- protectionGuarding against harm
- countermeasureDefense against a threat
- nonviolencePrincipled rejection of force
passivity · inaction · calculated · deliberate · timing · patience · waiting · opportunity
feigning
Pretending to feel something
charade · ruse · ploy · trickery · guile · artifice · dissimulation · hoax · gambit · subterfuge
possum
Pouch-bearing mammal
instinct · prey · threat · evasion · reflex · freeze · immobility · stillness · unresponsive · limp
strategy
Planned approach to goals
- defenseProtection against harm
- protectionGuarding against harm
- countermeasureDefense against a threat
nonviolence · passivity · inaction · calculated · deliberate · timing · patience · waiting · opportunity · diversion
- animal defensespoison, venom, toxin, toxins, horns
- pet behaviortail wagging, purring, kneading, growling, hissing
- animal behaviorsswimming, running, walking, jumping, flying
- animal signalsbody language, bird songs, tail wagging, mating calls, whale song
- prison escapesjailbreak, breakout, escapee, tunneling, disguise
- survival adaptationsmimicry, camouflage, hibernation, venom, poison
playing deadfighting back
Opposing when attacked
standing one's ground · fleeing · resisting · running away · attacking
play, player, deadly, playful, pretend, playing, played, playground, plays