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
-
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.
“Brutal honesty, candidness, no politics. Politics have no place to play with me. I don’t want a single ‘yes’ person around me.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
Not only is doing all this good for me physically, but it restrains my out-of-pocket medical costs and makes me better able to play with my grandkids.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 23, 2026
The wingers, often in one-against-one situations, are encouraged to play with directness and pace before shooting, or more commonly cutting the ball back for the centre-forwards to finish moves.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
The Chargers had a pleasant start to preseason play with a 27-7 road win over the Houston Texans last week.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
He didn't want to play with other children.
From "All About Sam" by Lois Lowry
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.
