play out

verb

1. (tr) to finish

   let's play the game out if we aren't too late

2. informal,  (tr; often passive) to use up or exhaust

3. (tr) to release gradually

   he played the rope out

4. (intr) to happen or turn out

   Let's wait and see how things play out

Idioms and Phrases

Finish, run out, as in This extreme fashion will soon play out , or The tension between factions will surely play itself out by next year . [Late 1500s]

Unwind, unreel, as in They slowly played out the cable . Also see played out .

Example Sentences

In fact, that might be playing out now, going by technical trends.

Read more on Barron's

"We see tobacco industry tactics playing out this morning, in fact, while we're on this call," he told an online press conference on Tuesday.

Read more on Barron's

There's been a sense this night of all nights was written in the stars, given the way Scotland's bizarre qualifying campaign played out.

Read more on BBC

The drama would be played out again at five o’clock, and finally at eight.

Read more on Literature

“When that route fails, there is no fallback. That is the weakness we keep seeing play out.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• become 
• come to be www.thesaurus.com
• end up 
• eventually be www.thesaurus.com
• finish as www.thesaurus.com
• turn out to be www.thesaurus.com