Definition of "rôle"

We have referred to the Bull many times, both in his astronomical aspect as pioneer of the Spring-Sun, and in his more direct rôle as plougher of the fields[.]

1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., page 81

Finally the Negro had played a peculiar spiritual rôle in America as a sort of living, breathing test of our ideals and an example of the faith, hope and tolerance of our religion.

1924, W. E. B. DuBois, The Gift of Black Folk: The Negroes in the Making of America, The Stratford Co.: The Stratford Co., page iv

1955, Graham J. Brealey, Michael Kasha, “The Rôle of Hydrogen Bonding in the n → π* Blue-shift Phenomenon”, in Journal of the American Chemical Society, volume 77, issue 17, 4462-4468

Thus, diachronic reductionists follow Ohala in emphasizing the rôle of the parser in phonologization and downplaying the contribution of higher principles of grammatical organization.

2006, Ricardo Bermúdez-Otero, Phonological change in Optimality Theory, in Keith Brown (ed.), Encyclopedia of language and linguistics [2nd edn., vol. 9], 497–505. Oxford: Elsevier.

As the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations wind down, it may be well to reflect on an aspect of public choice theory which supports constitutional monarchy — principally its rôle as a brake upon self-aggrandising politicians.

2012, Stephen MacLean, A cheer for constitutional monarchy's restraint on government, Adam Smith Institute

Nevertheless, it can be argued that Loporcaro's (2015) rejection of any rôle for phonological computation in establishing the observed distribution of vowel length in Northern Romance goes too far in the other direction.

2016, Pavel Iosad, Rule scattering and vowel length in Northern Romance, in Papers in Historical Phonology, volume 1, 218–237. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh.