play-act

Verb

play-act (third-person singular simple present play-acts, present participle play-acting, simple past and past participle play-acted)

1. (intransitive) To perform on stage; to act in a play.
2. (transitive) To play (a scene, role etc.); to act out.
   • Kelly’s involvement made it a song not only about fame, but also about alleged sex across creepy power differentials. This wasn’t really even subtext: Gaga and Kelly playacted an Oval Office affair at the American Music Awards.2019 January 11, Spencer Kornhaber, “Lady Gaga’s R. Kelly Apology Is a Reminder That Abuse Isn’t Provocative”, in The Atlantic
3. (figuratively, intransitive) To engage in pretence or insincere behavior, often in order to mislead someone or gain an advantage.
   • The most Trump can imagine selling is himself, and what that self is is merely a hologram, a weightless shape. He play-acts at being a businessman. He play-acts at being a president. The only thing that’s authentic about him is his comic-book worldview, one divided between heroes and villains, us...2020 August 24, Jennifer Senior, “Let the Culture Wars Begin. Again.”, in The New York Times
   • Abby, watching Harper give the closeted performance that she’s been giving her whole life, sees a side of her that she doesn’t like — the one who play-acts and denies herself almost too well.2020 November 20, Owen Gleiberman, “‘Happiest Season’ Review: Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis in a Christmas Rom-Com That Earns Its Emotion”, in Variety
4. (figuratively, transitive) To make a pretence of; to feign or simulate.
   • If the devil’s advocate playacts disagreement with you for the sake of strengthening your argument, the concern troll is his mirror image, a person who pretends to agree with you in order to undermine you.2018 April 3, Nitsuh Abebe, “Why Have We Soured on the ‘Devil’s Advocate’?”, in The New York Times
   • Asked after the match if Djokovic had been play-acting the symptoms of cramp, Murray replied “I don't know. I would hope that that wouldn't be the case. But, yeah, if it was cramp, that's a tough thing to recover from and play as well as he did at the end.”2020 September 6, Simon Briggs, “Novak Djokovic possesses a volcanic intensity but sometimes that fire shows itself in unflattering ways”, in The Daily Telegraph