Dictionary Home » Dictionary Definitions » role-playing

role-playing

Role playing is defined as pretending to be someone else or pretending to be in a specific situation that you are not actually in at the time.

(verb)

An example of role playing is when you pretend that your friend is your boss and you have a practice conversation in which you ask for a raise.
An example of role playing is when you and your spouse pretend to be out on a first date, even though you have been married for ten years.

See role-playing in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

a technique in training or psychotherapy in which participants assume and act out roles so as to resolve conflicts, practice appropriate behavior for various situations, etc.

Related Forms:

role-play transitive verb, intransitive verb

See role-playing in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

Psychology A therapeutic technique, designed to reduce conflict in social situations, in which participants act out particular behavioral roles in order to expand their awareness of differing points of view.
An instance or situation in which one deliberately acts out or assumes a particular character or role.

Learn more about role-playing

role playing business definition

role-playing medical definition

role-playing in a sentence

link/cite print suggestion box