play out
Britishverb
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(tr) to finish
let's play the game out if we aren't too late
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informal (tr; often passive) to use up or exhaust
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(tr) to release gradually
he played the rope out
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(intr) to happen or turn out
Let's wait and see how things play out
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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]
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Unwind, unreel, as in They slowly played out the cable . Also see played out .
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.
And the historical relationship does not mean the same pattern will play out this time.
From MarketWatch • May 20, 2026
We’re seeing the effects play out on an almost daily basis, including in Monday’s orders.
From Slate • May 19, 2026
Pickering: Remember that the other dynamic that will play out postwar is that everyone will be rebuilding their oil inventories.
From Barron's • May 15, 2026
That prompted the pill’s manufacturers to file an emergency petition with the Supreme Court to put the Fifth Circuit order on ice while legal proceedings play out.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026
That can’t be how Madoc thought things would play out.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
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.
