playback
Americannoun
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playbacks
plural
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the act of reproducing a sound or video recording, especially in order to check a recording that is newly made.
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(in a recording device) the apparatus used in producing playbacks.
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the recording so played, especially the first time it is heard or viewed after being recorded.
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the response to a suggestion, act, product, venture, etc.; feedback.
The playback on the speech has been very favorable.
noun
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the act or process of reproducing a recording, esp on magnetic tape
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the part of a tape recorder serving to reproduce or used for reproducing recorded material
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(modifier) of or relating to the reproduction of signals from a recording
the playback head of a tape recorder
verb
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of playback
First recorded in 1925–30; noun use of verb phrase play back
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.
See Examples For:
Ahead of the album’s release, Rideaux, Asghedom and their teams are prepping to host “The Prolific Experience”— a playback session and panel discussion at The Novo in downtown Los Angeles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
Of particular concern are those like endless scroll, highly personalised feeds and the automatic playback of videos.
From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026
Indian playback singer Asha Bhosle - once immortalised in Cornershop's Brimful of Asha - also appears on the video screens, singing The Shadowy Light.
From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2026
While all major VPNs unblock Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ and HBO Max, ExpressVPN and Surfshark consistently bypass geo-restrictions, delivering smooth streaming playback.
From Salon ● Jun. 10, 2026
He clicked on the TV and thumbed the remote to find the Dog Squad playback.
From "Dog Squad" by Chris Grabenstein
And BTS, unlike Swift’s playbacks of recorded performances, will stream several “Arirang” concerts live, with two shows held in Japan and South Korea being played in theaters worldwide.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
That day in Beijing, Knierim and Frazier were told the worst that could happen is their music would be muted in playbacks of their performance broadcast on NBC’s streaming platform, Peacock.
From Slate ● Nov. 30, 2024
When he started following the sport in 2005, the only way of viewing it in Nigeria was by watching playbacks of races on terrestrial TV.
From BBC ● May 29, 2024
For the new show, these playbacks are accompanied by visual interpretations that read as half lyric video, half animated wallpaper.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2020
The tinfoil tears easily, and even when the stylus is properly adjusted, the reproduction is distorted and squeaky, and good for only a few playbacks.
From Development of the Phonograph at Alexander Graham Bell's Volta Laboratory Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology, United States National Museum Bulletin 218, Paper 5, (pages 69-79) by Leslie J. Newville
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.
