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Glite Dictionary
to cosplay as

to cosplay as

1 7.4
To dress up as a character from a film, book, or game at fan events
  • phrasal verb
  • /ˈkɒspleɪ æz/
translation icon : disfrazarse de
  • He was excited to cosplay as a famous wizard for the upcoming fantasy convention.

Here is a fan sculpted mini fig of me cosplaying as Wiley Post.

Examples

  • I usually use Halloween to cosplay as Rose from Doctor Who (and not get laughed at for it) if I am going out.

    Blog text (25)

  • Sadly, this is why I've never cosplayed as Poison Ivy.

    Blog text (4)

  • So you left thinking that I was, I was cosplaying as a DJ all alone.

  • I think she's so funny and I want to cosplay as her so bad.

  • Mulan decided that she had to go into the army to save her family's honor and she cosplayed as a man.

  • It turns out I don't like cosplaying as villains.

  • At the comic convention, she decided to cosplay as her favorite superhero.

  • My friends and I love to cosplay as characters from our favorite video games during the annual fan festival.

Synonyms

to dress as
vsto cosplay as
61 3.5

Put on a costume to look like someone or something else

is specific to imitating fictional characters within fan events and conventions
to cosplay
vsto cosplay as
2 7.3

To dress and act like a character from a film, book, or game at fan events

is used for dressing as characters from many media at fan gatherings

How Elaborate

to portray
118 3.7
to cosplay as
1 7.4
to dress as
61 3.5

Surface Forms

cosplay as infinitive
cosplayed as past
cosplayed as past participle
cosplaying as present participle
cosplays as third person singular

Morphology

cosplay + as

The meaning is directly compositional: 'cosplay' already encodes dressing as a character and the word 'as' marks the role/identity, so 'cosplay as [X]' straightforwardly means to dress up in the guise of a specific character. This is a literal, cross-linguistically common construction, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to derive the meaning.

Etymology

Cosplay as comes from the idea of costume + play: fans put on a costume and act like a character. Imagine someone wearing a hero outfit and copying that hero at a party or fan event — that picture is the memory hook. So, cosplay as means 'to dress up in costume as a specific character'.