play with
Britishverb
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to consider without giving deep thought to or coming to a conclusion concerning
we're playing with the idea of emigrating
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to behave carelessly with
to play with a girl's affections
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to fiddle or mess about with
he's just playing with his food
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.
An Iceland player took too long to leave the field, so the team had to play with 10 men for more than two minutes.
From BBC • Jun. 10, 2026
“It’s fun, but not the kind of thing to play with all day. It’s your money, so it’s serious. But it’s also dynamic and you come back to it when your life evolves.”
From MarketWatch • Jun. 9, 2026
Las Vegas casino giant MGM Resorts is in play, with Barry Diller’s company offering to buy the share of the company it doesn’t own and take it private.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 5, 2026
It can be played without equipment and with an improvised ball, so long as you have others to play with.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 4, 2026
I was going to ask if I could play with you, but then I realized that might make you uncomfortable.
From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows
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.
