a part or character in a play, film, etc, to be played by an actor or actress the part played by a person in a particular social setting, influenced by his or her expectation of what is appropriate usual or customary function: what is her role in the organization?
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025
role or rôle /roʊl/USA pronunciation
n. [countable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025- a part played by an actor or singer:the role of the villain in the play.
- the proper function of a person or thing:the role of good computer programs in teaching English.
role
(rōl),USA pronunciation n.
- a part or character played by an actor or actress.
- proper or customary function:the teacher's role in society.
- Sociologythe rights, obligations, and expected behavior patterns associated with a particular social status.
- French rôle roll (as of paper) containing the actor's part
- 1600–10
- 2.See corresponding entry in Unabridged capacity, position, responsibility, duty.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
'role' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
-ette
- -man
- Bishop
- Burnet
- Christoff
- Commune
- Crawford
- DNA
- Decatur
- Dungeons and Dragons
- Eichmann
- European Parliament
- Fort Moultrie
- Game Master
- Great Power
- Hewish
- Kingsley
- Lancaster
- Law Lords
- Menon
- Messiah
- Method
- Morton
- Murchison
- abovementioned
- act
- actin
- actor-proof
- agentive
- alternate
- as
- attack
- audacious
- audition
- autonomous phoneme
- benefactive
- berth
- best
- bit
- bit part
- blackface
- blow
- breeches part
- callback
- cameo
- capacity
- casserole
- cast
- character
- chorus