noun
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a toy
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a person regarded or treated as a toy
he thinks she is just his plaything
Etymology
Origin of plaything
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
For years, Cadiz shares traded as a sort of plaything for water investors hoping for a big score over the horizon — what craps players call “betting on the come.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
Autos were no longer a “devilish plaything of the gilded class,” Mr. Moskowitz tells us.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026
Famously, he set a Barbie doll on fire to protest Greta Gerwig’s movie portraying the doll as a woman with agency, rather than a passive plaything.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2025
"Wombats are not a photo prop or plaything," said Suzanne Milthorpe, Head of Campaigns at World Animal Protection Australia, in a statement online.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2025
Kira scolded the little dog affectionately when he tried to use her cane as a plaything to chew.
From "Messenger" by Lois Lowry
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
