role
♦♦♦ role /r'oʊl/ (roles)
1 [N-COUNT] with supp, oft N in/of/as n
If you have a role in a situation or in society, you have a particular position and function in it.
...the drug's role in preventing more serious effects of infection...
Both sides have roles to play.
2 [N-COUNT] usu with supp
A role is one of the characters that an actor or singer can play in a film, play, or opera.
She has just landed the lead role in The Young Vic's latest production...role mod|el (role models)
[N-COUNT]
A role model is someone you admire and try to imitate.
Five out of the ten top role models for British teenagers are black.role play (role plays role playing role played)
also role-play
1 [N-VAR]
Role play is the act of imitating the character and behaviour of someone who is different from yourself, for example as a training exercise.
Group members have to communicate with each other through role-play.
2 [VERB] V n, also V
If people role play, they do a role play.
Rehearse and role-play the interview with a friend beforehand.
● role playing [N-UNCOUNT]
We did a lot of role playing.role re|ver|sal (role reversals)
[N-VAR]
Role reversal is a situation in which two people have chosen or been forced to exchange their duties and responsibilities, so that each is now doing what the other used to do.
...men who have undertaken the most extreme role reversal and become house-husbands.ti|tle role (title roles)
[N-COUNT] the N
The title role in a play or film is the role referred to in the name of the play or film.
My novel `The Rector's Wife' is being adapted for TV, with Lindsay Duncan in the title role.
1 [N-COUNT] with supp, oft N in/of/as n
If you have a role in a situation or in society, you have a particular position and function in it.
...the drug's role in preventing more serious effects of infection...
Both sides have roles to play.
2 [N-COUNT] usu with supp
A role is one of the characters that an actor or singer can play in a film, play, or opera.
She has just landed the lead role in The Young Vic's latest production...role mod|el (role models)
[N-COUNT]
A role model is someone you admire and try to imitate.
Five out of the ten top role models for British teenagers are black.role play (role plays role playing role played)
also role-play
1 [N-VAR]
Role play is the act of imitating the character and behaviour of someone who is different from yourself, for example as a training exercise.
Group members have to communicate with each other through role-play.
2 [VERB] V n, also V
If people role play, they do a role play.
Rehearse and role-play the interview with a friend beforehand.
● role playing [N-UNCOUNT]
We did a lot of role playing.role re|ver|sal (role reversals)
[N-VAR]
Role reversal is a situation in which two people have chosen or been forced to exchange their duties and responsibilities, so that each is now doing what the other used to do.
...men who have undertaken the most extreme role reversal and become house-husbands.ti|tle role (title roles)
[N-COUNT] the N
The title role in a play or film is the role referred to in the name of the play or film.
My novel `The Rector's Wife' is being adapted for TV, with Lindsay Duncan in the title role.