replay
Americanverb (used with object)
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replays,
present (3rd person singular)
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replayed,
past participle, past
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replaying
present participle
noun
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replays
plural
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an act or instance of replaying.
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a repetition of all or part of a broadcast or of the playing of a phonograph record, videocassette, etc.
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a rematch.
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Informal. a repetition, recurrence, or reenactment.
The recession could be a replay of the Great Depression.
noun
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Also called: action replay. television a showing again of a sequence of action, esp of part of a sporting contest immediately after it happens either in slow motion (a slow-motion replay ) or at normal speed
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a rematch
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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replaysimple
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replayssimple
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have replayedperfect
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has replayedperfect
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am replayingprogressive
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are replayingprogressive
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is replayingprogressive
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have been replayingperfect progressive
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has been replayingperfect progressive
Past
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replayedsimple
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had replayedperfect
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was replayingprogressive
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were replayingprogressive
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had been replayingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of replay
Explanation
When you replay something, you play it again, whether it's a soccer match or a blues tune on your guitar. You can even replay, or repeat, a happy event over and over again in your mind. If you take a video of your kitten playing with a ball of yarn, you can replay it any time you need a little cheering up. And in some sports, teams will replay a game that ends in a tie or is cancelled because of bad weather. This sports meaning is actually the oldest on record for replay, from an 1862 description of a curling match.
Vocabulary lists containing replay
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.
See Examples For:
You replay conversations worried you offended someone, embarrassed yourself, or both.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
“Tough to watch,” Eli Manning said as a replay aired.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
Mourinho also addressed the dismissal of Dean Huijsen, which awarded Atletico a penalty, admitting he had not yet watched the VAR replay.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
Alas, officials on the Big House field huddled with replay officials, who reviewed their feed and discovered there was actually an additional, double-secret second hiding in the space-time continuum.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
The words of “The Flanging Tree” replay in my head.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
Ahmed will regret his decision not to review after being given out lbw off Roland-Jones, with replays showing it would have missed leg stump.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
While Rowan Pope’s hard wisdom about being twice as good gets plenty of replays, hardly anybody quotes the rest of his speech.
From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2026
In such a world, fans will be able to watch replays from the view of their favorite athlete.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
Without the use of video replays, its unlikely any of those calls would have been made and the World Cup quarterfinals would probably look quite different.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026
She replays the scene: She is leaving Zach’s.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
According to the WTA rules, a point should be replayed from the beginning in such instances.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
With emotions high at full-time, she pulled out her phone in a post-match interview with BBC Sport and replayed the incident to back up her complaints.
From BBC ● May 12, 2026
That means everything from their facial expressions to the size of the bite are replayed, scrutinized or skewered by millions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026
And when she welcomed past “Top Model” contenders to “The Tyra Banks Show,” including Sullivan, she replayed footage of her assault on air despite Sullivan expressly asking her not to.
From Salon ● Feb. 20, 2026
While I was driving, I replayed the events that had just transpired in the store and the visceral reaction I’d had in my gut.
From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad
“You’re doing the right thing in terms of replaying the good memories,” Tan said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
You know the world has changed, and you are replaying a model that no longer fits.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026
Her friends, like Elma and Anne-Marie, are still reckoning with what happened, replaying those final moments they spent with Charmain.
From BBC ● May 22, 2026
I spent hours on end replaying the worst moments in my head.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2025
So that whole morning, while I basically sleepwalked though science, math, ELA, and Spanish, I couldn’t stop replaying the scene in the band room.
From "Maybe He Just Likes You" by Barbara Dee
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.
