Definition of "role-play" [role-play]

• To assume or represent in a drama; act out: "Participants are encouraged to pass on leads about jobs ... and to role-play interview situations with each other” ( Hatfield MA Valley Advocate). (verb-transitive)
• To assume or act out a particular role: "When I hire people I role-play with them ... to see how they take pressure” ( Peter Schrag). (verb-intransitive)
• Role-playing. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Children can get the inside track on different democratic processes through a role-play activity where they take the parts of victorious Libyan rebels looking at the future direction of their country."
• "In another game, the counselors described people who had been put into various situations and then asked the children to role-play."
• "If I had seen this as a series of lesson plans (with a nice progression from warmer ‘thought’ pieces, to language work and reading, listening and role-play) I would have been really impressed by the teacher in question."