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play along

British  

verb

  1. to cooperate (with), esp as a temporary measure

  2. (tr) to manipulate as if in a game, esp for one's own advantage

    he played the widow along until she gave him her money
"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
play along Idioms  

  1. Cooperate or pretend to cooperate, as in They decided to play along with the robbers, at least for a while. [Colloquial; 1920s]

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.

So my thought was, “OK, I’m going to play along with this.”

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 24, 2026

The posts allow other Polymarket users to play along.

From Barron's • Feb. 27, 2026

When useful idiots play along, the hypocrisy is double: Perpetrators pretend to be humane, and apologists pretend to believe them.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 9, 2026

She'd fallen in love with her mum's Elton John albums and wanted to play along.

From BBC • Oct. 23, 2025

Unfortunately, Percy didn’t see much choice but to play along with her VIP tour until they could find the sea god Phorcys, even if they were walking deeper into a trap.

From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan

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.