roleplaying
roleplaying noun: action in which a person takes on a role (as that of an actor) and acts out being that character. Also the present participle and gerund of roleplay.
Noun
roleplaying (usually uncountable, plural roleplayings)
- Action in which a person takes on a role (as that of an actor) and acts out being that character.
- But perhaps the most interesting aspect of roleplaying’s development has been the emergence of the “story-game” movement: a passionate community of independent designers using games to explore new themes and approaches to storytelling.2017 February 8, Owen Duffy, “Monsterhearts: 'A lot of queer youth are made to feel monstrous by people around them'”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN...
- Nothing’s autobiographical, but her attitude towards the scenarios she finds herself in [and] her reactions to the often heightened situations she finds herself in are probably influenced by my own reactions to those things. It’s almost like roleplaying.2022 June 7, Emily Zemler, quoting Rose Matafeo, “‘Starstruck’ creator and star Rose Matafeo considers a third season”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications...
Also used as
roleplaying is also the present participle and gerund of roleplay.
Forms of roleplaying
| plural | roleplayings |
|---|---|
| alternative form | role playing |
| alternative form | role-playing |
| alternative form (dated) | rôle playing |
| alternative form (dated) | rôle-playing |
| alternative form (dated) | rôleplaying |
Origin of roleplaying
From role + playing.
From roleplay + -ing.
Words formed from roleplaying
Phrases with roleplaying
Questions about roleplaying
- What does roleplaying mean?
- Roleplaying means action in which a person takes on a role (as that of an actor) and acts out being that character.
- What part of speech is roleplaying?
- Roleplaying is a noun.
- What is the plural of roleplaying?
- The plural of roleplaying is roleplayings.
Words near roleplaying in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: roleplaying (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “roleplaying.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/roleplaying. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.