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Glite Dictionary
to stay in character

to stay in character

9 6.8
To continue acting as the role you play, not as yourself
  • phrasal verb
: mantener el personaje
  • During the play rehearsal, the director told the actors to stay in character to make the performance more believable.
  • actors stay in character
  • stay in character at all times
  • try to stay in character

Examples

Synonyms

to act as
vsto stay in character
85 3.4

Pretend to have qualities or feelings you do not have

means maintaining the portrayed identity rather than briefly pretending
to be
vsto stay in character
79 1.0

Act as a character in a play or film

continues behaving as the role without reverting to the real self
to enact
vsto stay in character
32 4.8

To act out a scene in front of people, like in a play

emphasizes keeping the role continuously, not just performing a scene

Antonyms

to be oneself
1 2.8

To act naturally and honestly without pretending to be someone else

How In Character

to stay in character
9 6.8
to be
79 1.0

Surface Forms

stay in character infinitive
stayed in character past
stayed in character past participle
staying in character present participle
stays in character third person singular

Morphology

stay + in + character

The meaning is directly derivable from the constituents: 'stay' (remain) + 'in' (within) + 'character' (the role one plays), so a learner who knows those words can infer 'continue behaving as the role one is portraying'. This is a straightforward compositional locative/role construction common across languages, making it immediately comprehensible to B1 learners.

Etymology

The phrase stay in character comes from the stage: an actor must stay in character, meaning they remain inside the role and do not show their 'real self'. That's why it means 'to continue behaving or speaking as the character'.