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.
The winning goal came from Marco Rossi on a power play with less than 11 seconds left in the extra period.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 12, 2026
I needed to go back and, you know, play with my friends and just enjoy it because at that age it is very serious.
From BBC • Apr. 11, 2026
“And that ambiguity naturally creates a breeding ground for people to play with the linguistic terms.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 11, 2026
Notice that at the lows of the double bottom base, round number theory came into play with a bullish morning star completed in February 2025 and a bullish engulfing candle in August 2025.
From Barron's • Apr. 9, 2026
I was extremely close with Horace and Charlie and loved to play with them.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
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.
