student asking question

Does "inhabit the role" mean "take the role"? What does it mean?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

Great question. Usually, when someone "inhabits" a place, they live there. You can inhabit an actual place, like a home, a cave, or a neighborhood. You can also inhabit an imaginary world, like making up a personality/life online, talking about experiences that are nothing like your real life. So when we say that actors "inhabit their roles", it means that they seem to become the character that they are playing. They are no longer just actors reciting their lines. It is like they live the life of the character. Ex: The people inhabited the islands that are now deserted. Ex: He really inhabited the character. I forgot he wasn't really a doctor.

Popular Q&As

04/19

Complete the expression with a quiz!