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Synonyms

player

1 American  
[pley-er] / ˈpleɪ ər /

noun

  1. a person or thing that plays.

  2. a person who takes part or is skilled in some game or sport.

  3. a person who plays parts on the stage; an actor.

  4. a performer on a musical instrument.

  5. Informal. a participant, as in a conference or business deal.

  6. a machine or piece of software that reproduces sound or images: a videodisc player;

    a record player;

    a videodisc player;

    a digital media player.

  7. a gambler.

  8. Slang. a person engaged in illicit or illegal activity, especially a pimp.

  9. a mechanical device by which a musical instrument, as a player piano, is played automatically.

Player 2 American  
[pley-er] / ˈpleɪ ər /

noun

  1. Gary, born 1935, South African golfer.

player 1 British  
/ ˈpleɪə /

noun

  1. a person who participates in or is skilled at some game or sport

  2. a person who plays a game or sport professionally

  3. a person who plays a musical instrument

  4. an actor

  5. informal a participant, esp a powerful one, in a particular field of activity

    a leading city player

  6. See record player

  7. the playing mechanism in a Pianola

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Player 2 British  
/ ˈpleɪə /

noun

  1. Gary (ˈɡærɪ). born 1935, South African golfer: winner of nine major championships (1959–78), including the British Open (1959, 1968, 1974)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • counterplayer noun
  • nonplayer noun
  • self-player noun
  • superplayer noun

Etymology

Origin of player

before 1000; Middle English pleyer, Old English plegere. See play, -er 1

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.

According to the report, bitcoin’s inventor is Adam Back, a British cryptographer and still a major player in the bitcoin movement.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 8, 2026

Soon enough, Knueppel became the best player in the league’s history—before he could even shave.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026

"I still want to be the best player in the world and to keep on playing my rugby," she added.

From BBC • Apr. 8, 2026

As a player, Lucescu made 64 appearances for Romania and captained his country at the 1970 World Cup.

From BBC • Apr. 7, 2026

He saw as many hockey games as he could, was an active tennis player, skied, swam, and belonged to a Ping-Pong club in Manhattan.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

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.