bit player
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of bit player
First recorded in 1935–40
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.
Xu is a bit player in what has become one of the biggest segments of China’s labor market.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 20, 2025
Rolls-Royce is a bit player in a market that has powerful and successful leaders, and that rival Pratt and Witney lost $8bn trying and failing to break into.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2025
But South Africa’s leader was nothing more than a bit player in this tableau, while the white Afrikaners under supposed threat of extermination didn’t even get speaking parts.
From Salon ● May 25, 2025
Perhaps nothing better illustrated the Bruins’ offseason makeover than the mainstay from a year ago being relegated to a bit player as part of this new ensemble cast.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2024
He could have been a bit player on a Saturday morning children’s show.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
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.
