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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

cosplay.

The art or practice of costuming oneself as a (usually fictional) character.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈkɒz.pleɪ/UK/ˈkɒs.pleɪ/UK/ˈkɑz.pleɪ/US/ˈkɑs.pleɪ/US
  1. The art or practice of costuming oneself as a (usually fictional) character.

    uncountable
  2. A skit or instance of this art or practice.

    countable
Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Japanese コスプレ (kosupure), which is a clipping of コスチュームプレイ (kosuchūmu purei), from a compound of English costume + play. The verb is derived from the noun.

verb/ˈkɒz.pleɪ/UK/ˈkɒs.pleɪ/UK/ˈkɑz.pleɪ/US/ˈkɑs.pleɪ/US
  1. To costume oneself as a (usually fictional) character.

    intransitive
    She cosplayed at the manga convention.
  2. To costume oneself as (a [usually fictional] character).

    transitive
    She cosplayed Sailor Moon at the manga convention.
  3. To adopt the behavior and mannerisms of another; to pretend to be someone or something.

    derogatory · figuratively · intransitive · often
  4. To adopt the behavior and mannerisms of (another); to pretend to be (someone or something).

    derogatory · figuratively · often · transitive
Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Japanese コスプレ (kosupure), which is a clipping of コスチュームプレイ (kosuchūmu purei), from a compound of English costume + play. The verb is derived from the noun.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.