Adjacent Words

role definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the actions and activities assigned to or required or expected of a person or group; "the function of a teacher"; "the government must do its part"; "play its role" [syn: function, office, part, role]
2: an actor's portrayal of someone in a play; "she played the part of Desdemona" [syn: character, role, theatrical role, part, persona]
3: what something is used for; "the function of an auger is to bore holes"; "ballet is beautiful but what use is it?" [syn: function, purpose, role, use]
4: normal or customary activity of a person in a particular social setting; "what is your role on the team?"

Merriam Webster's

also rôle noun Etymology: French rôle, literally, roll, from Old French rolle Date: 1605 1. a. (1) a character assigned or assumed <had to take on the role of both father and mother> (2) a socially expected behavior pattern usually determined by an individual's status in a particular society b. a part played by an actor or singer 2. a function or part performed especially in a particular operation or process <played a major role in the negotiations>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (also r{ocirc}le) 1 an actor's part in a play, film, etc. 2 a person's or thing's characteristic or expected function (the role of the tape recorder in language-learning). Phrases and idioms: role model a person looked to by others as an example in a particular role. role-playing an exercise in which participants act the part of another character, used in psychotherapy, language-teaching, etc. Etymology: F r{ocirc}le and obs. F roule, rolle, = ROLL n.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Role R[^o]le, n. [F. See Roll.] A part, or character, performed by an actor in a drama; hence, a part of function taken or assumed by any one; as, he has now taken the r[^o]le of philanthropist. Title r[^o]le, the part, or character, which gives the title to a play, as the part of Hamlet in the play of that name.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(roles) Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. 1. 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. N-COUNT: with supp, oft N in/of/as n 2. 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... N-COUNT: usu with supp

Moby Thesaurus

actor, antagonist, antihero, bit, bit part, capacity, cast, character, condition, cue, duty, end use, fat part, feeder, function, heavy, hero, heroine, immediate purpose, impersonation, ingenue, job, lead, lead role, leading lady, leading man, leading woman, lines, office, operation, operational purpose, part, person, personage, piece, place, position, post, protagonist, province, purpose, quality, relation, responsibility, side, situation, soubrette, status, straight part, supporting character, supporting role, task, title role, ultimate purpose, use, villain, walk-on, walking part, work