role reversal

role reversal (plural role reversals)

1. A situation in which someone adopts a role the reverse of that they normally assume in relation to someone else, who typically assumes their role in exchange.
   • 1996, Placebo (lyrics and music), “Nancy Boy”:

     And it all breaks down at the role reversal
     Got the muse in my head, she's universal
     Spinning me round, she's coming over me

   • 2022 November 30, Paul Bigland, “Destination Oban: a Sunday in Scotland”, in RAIL, number 971, page 74:

     The table opposite me is occupied by a young couple with a table full of alcohol and snacks. In a role reversal, he is drinking Smirnoff Ice while she steadily demolishes a six-pack of lager!

• “role reversal” in the Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.