US /ɹoʊl/ UK /ɹəʊl/
Homophones
noun Freq #2063

Meanings

  1. 1
    noun

    The part that someone or something plays in a situation or activity.

    Volunteers played an important role in cleaning up the beach.

  2. 2
    noun

    A character played by an actor in a play or film.

    She landed the lead role in the school play.

  3. 3
    noun

    The way a person or group is expected to behave in society.

    The role of women has changed greatly over the last century.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
1 noun · the part that someone or... function
Word family
Forms roles
Derived forms gender-rolemultirolererolerole-basedrole-orientedrole-playrole-playerrole-playingroledrolelessroleplayroleplayer

Etymology

From French rôle, from Middle French rolle, from Old French role, from Medieval Latin rotulus. Doublet of roll and rotulus.

View etymology graph ->

Topics

markdown

Send feedback

Optional — only if you'd like a reply.