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.

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Player ² American  

[pley-er] / ˈpleɪ ər /

noun

1. Gary, born 1935, South African golfer.

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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

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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)

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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

With multiple locations and dozens of players, “The Border” sees Art launching a bold scheme “to pull the whole wall down. Right on top of himself, if necessary.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Football players had Time Out, too; he saw it on TV when his daddy watched the Patriots.

From Literature

Every so often she had to maneuver around pieces of junk that thoughtless humans had dumped into the ocean—an old DVD player, a sofa and even a toilet.

From Literature

Dodger management will always leave any tough choice like this one up to the players.

From Los Angeles Times

Duran moved to Al-Nassr at a time when the Saudi Pro League was investing huge sums in star players from Europe.

From BBC

Related Words

• athlete
• competitor
• member
• opponent
• participant
• pro
• professional
• rookie