play out

British  

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

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play out Idioms  

1. 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]

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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

play out

I don’t want you to repeat this, Peter, but here’s how things are going to play out after the merger.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026

Fortunately, the first edition this season airs on Tuesday, providing the perfect opportunity to play out the audio of the Fernandez offside decision.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

It is anyone’s guess how this will play out, though U.S.

From Slate ● Sep. 3, 2026

Here’s an extremely simplistic illustration to see how the rent-and-invest versus buy numbers could play out today, using a calculator provided by Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi: A 35-year-old buys a starter home.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026

I’d blocked it out before but now I can see it play out, like it happened yesterday.

From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold

Related Words

• become
• come to be
• end up
• eventually be
• finish as
• turn out to be