played out
Idioms-
See play out .
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Exhausted, worn out, as in This was the third trip the mules had made, and they were utterly played out . [Mid-1800s]
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 frictions also played out on the ground in Beijing as US and Chinese officials appeared to be having their own shadow superpower battle.
From Barron's • May 15, 2026
We’ll get into how all that played out in the show, but right now, nearly a decade later, the case still raises some other big questions.
From Slate • May 13, 2026
That drama has played out against events on the pitch.
From BBC • May 13, 2026
The crisis of trust has played out differently in different countries, depending on the rhythm of elections and the peculiarities of the political system.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 9, 2026
Maybe if we’d tackled it at the start, things would have played out differently, who knows?
From "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro
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.
