play dead

English

Verb

play dead (third-person singular simple present plays dead, present participle playing dead, simple past and past participle played dead)

1. To lie very still, like a corpse.
2. To act as though defeated while awaiting a chance to attack.

Synonyms

• play possum

Translations

to lie very still, like a corpse

• Catalan: fer el mort
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 裝死 / 装死 (zh) (zhuāngsǐ)

• Esperanto: ŝajnigi sin morta
• Finnish: leikkiä kuollutta, esittää kuollutta, teeskennellä kuollutta, näytellä kuollutta
• French: faire le mort (fr)
• Georgian: თავს იმკვდარუნებს (tavs imḳvdarunebs)
• Tagalog: magpatay-patayan
• Turkish: ölü taklidi yapmak

to act as though defeated

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 裝死 / 装死 (zh) (zhuāngsǐ)

• Finnish: leikkiä kuollutta, esittää kuollutta, teeskennellä kuollutta, näytellä kuollutta
• French: faire le mort (fr)
• German: sich tot stellen
• Italian: fare il morto, fingersi morto
• Korean: 죽은 척을 하다 (jugeun cheogeul hada)
• Norwegian: spille død
• Spanish: hacerse el muerto
• Turkish: ölü taklidi yapmak

See also

• thanatosis