role

A2 Topic:Theater & Performance

US /ɹoʊl/ UK /ɹəʊl/ See IPA manual

Homophones

roll /ɹoʊl/

Freq #2063

Meanings

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

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

She landed the lead role in the school play.
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

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

participant role
the semantic relationship of a sentence participant to its main verb

Noun + noun

Proverbs (1)

See all

There are no small roles, only small actors

Etymology

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

rôle French rolle Middle French role Old French rotulus la-med

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Theater & Performance Actions & Processes

External links

# role

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ɹoʊl/
**IPA (UK):** /ɹəʊl/
**Frequency rank:** 2063

## Meanings
1. The part that someone or something plays in a situation or activity.
2. A character played by an actor in a play or film.
3. The way a person or group is expected to behave in society.

## Examples
- Volunteers played an important role in cleaning up the beach.
- She landed the lead role in the school play.
- The role of women has changed greatly over the last century.

## Derived Forms
- gender-role
- multirole
- rerole
- role-based
- role-oriented
- role-play
- role-player
- role-playing
- roled
- roleless
- roleplay
- roleplayer

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: rôle
- Root: rolle
- Root: role
- Root: rotulus

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

## AI Etymology
Role comes from French rôle, from Middle French rolle, from Old French role, from Medieval Latin rotulus. Doublet of roll and rotulus. Modern senses include the part that someone or something plays in a situation or activity. and a character played by an actor in a play or film.. The wider word family includes derivatives such as gender-role, multirole, rerole, role-based, role-oriented, and role-play.

## Topics
- Theater & Performance
- Actions & Processes

markdown