noun
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a toy
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a person regarded or treated as a toy
he thinks she is just his plaything
Etymology
Origin of plaything
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.
Autos were no longer a “devilish plaything of the gilded class,” Mr. Moskowitz tells us.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026
"Both the Royal Family and the governments of England and Wales have other things to think about, which are rather more pressing and important than a child's plaything," said Dr Jones.
From BBC ● Nov. 17, 2025
Famously, he set a Barbie doll on fire to protest Greta Gerwig’s movie portraying the doll as a woman with agency, rather than a passive plaything.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2025
Red Lobster became a plaything for financial engineers, a condition that almost never — if ever — leads to an improved consumer experience and greater profits in the long term.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2024
Needless to say, this is merely a formality, to secure your Mother in the event of that circumstance of which man is ever the plaything and sport.
From "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner
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.
