How to Use role-play in a Sentence

role-play

verb
  • Fans were allowed to board the school bus and role-play life on the road.
    — Suzy Exposito, Los Angeles Times, 4 Dec. 2023
  • Side Quest often hosts role-playing game events and book clubs.
    — Steph Solis, Axios, 6 Feb. 2025
  • The role-playing game of the same name follows a young hunter called Aloy.
    — Amy MacKelden, ELLE, 31 Mar. 2023
  • Buy one get one 50% off Disney princess dress up/role-play items.
    — Mike Snider, USA TODAY, 28 Nov. 2024
  • Nowhere is this question more relevant than in the role-playing game genre.
    — Alan Bradley, ArsTechnica, 17 Apr. 2025
  • The game scrubs away a lot of the rules that can make getting into role-playing games a challenge.
    — Rob Wieland, Forbes, 16 Mar. 2023
  • The play is a mix of comedy and tragedy set against the world of fantasy role-playing games.
    — Annie Alleman, Chicago Tribune, 24 July 2023
  • Now, Titmouse is looking to bring its own spin on the classic role-playing game.
    — Rob Wieland, Forbes, 25 Oct. 2024
  • Children play elaborate make-believe games with their toys and role-playing games with their peers.
    — Andrew Shtulman, WSJ, 1 Dec. 2023
  • The first is an engaged, role-playing Jonathan Kuminga.
    — Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 24 Oct. 2025
  • And one wildly ambitious role-play hotel that closed after little more than a year.
    — James Hibberd, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Oct. 2024
  • But the world of a role-playing game must be summoned over and over by the force of collective intention.
    — Andrea Long Chu, Vulture, 30 Dec. 2024
  • But getting the bot to understand the back-and-forth necessary to role-play combat took a lot of work.
    — Ethan Gilsdorf, WIRED, 27 June 2023
  • My more imaginative friends would role-play as their characters, act out the scenes and do the voices.
    — Ally Beardsley, Washington Post, 31 July 2024
  • That campaign will take long hours as this tactical role-playing game has players building a rebel army from scratch.
    — Gieson Cacho, The Mercury News, 8 Mar. 2024
  • Most users can keep a clear line between reality and fiction or role-play, but a small percentage cannot.
    — John Werner, Forbes.com, 11 Aug. 2025
  • But what will inevitably be first in the conversation is the sequence in which two servants engage in rough role-play in a barn.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 11 Feb. 2026
  • The format for the finals was a mock-up of World of Warcraft, an online role-playing game.
    — Mikayla Whitmore, New York Times, 20 Jan. 2025
  • Interpreting the prompt as a role-play scenario, Max raised the BB gun and fired.
    — Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 12 Dec. 2025
  • But what your average gooner is up to is basically a kind of sad, confusing role-play.
    — Daniel Kolitz, Harpers Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025
  • So many role-playing games spoonfeed you with compasses and waypoints and fourth-wall-breaking warnings.
    — Alex James Kane, Forbes.com, 22 May 2026
  • With the toy, toddlers can role-play and help Bean change into underwear, wash hands, and use a mini potty.
    — Anna Halkidis, Parents, 7 Jan. 2025
  • Many role-playing games burst onto the scene promising that your choices will matter, only for that claim to fall flat in practice.
    — Jason Fanelli, Rolling Stone, 23 Oct. 2025
  • At the same time, makeup can be fun for role-playing dress-up, required for stage performances, and just a form of expression.
    — Rich Scherr, Parents, 9 Jan. 2024
  • There were not many dolls on the market that allowed girls to role-play and envision their future beyond motherhood.
    — Olivia Munson, USA TODAY, 13 July 2023
  • Managers even do live role-play scenarios with professional actors who play the part of their team members.
    — Kevin Kruse, Forbes.com, 20 Jan. 2026
  • Baldur’s Gate 3 is a role-playing game released in 2023.
    — Tony Maglio, HollywoodReporter, 5 Jan. 2026
  • All of it makes for one of the most cinematic and epic role-playing games with hundreds of hours of potential fun in each new play-through.
    — Bestreviews, Chicago Tribune, 30 Apr. 2026
  • Last week, Baidoo sat across from a fellow student and role-played a mental health counselor meeting a patient for the first time.
    — Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 18 Aug. 2023
  • Hasbro, which owns the role-playing game Dungeon & Dragons, rose 2%.
    — CBS News, 29 Nov. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'role-play.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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