play
| 1. |
(verb) engage in an activity as if it were a game: "They played games on their opponents" |
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Related Words: act, behave, do |
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| 2. |
(noun) the act using a sword (or other weapon) vigorously and skillfully |
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Related Words: action, fencing, swordplay |
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| 3. |
(verb) exhaust (a hooked fish) by allowing it to pull on the line |
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Related Words: beat, exhaust, tucker, tucker out |
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| 4. |
(noun) play by children that is guided more by imagination than by fixed rules; "Freud believed in the utility of play to a small child" |
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Synonyms: child's play |
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Related Words: diversion, doctor, fireman, house, recreation |
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| 5. |
(noun) gay or light-hearted recreational activity for diversion or amusement; "it was all done in play"; "their frolic in the surf threatened to become ugly" |
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Synonyms: caper, frolic, gambol, romp |
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Related Words: coquetry, dalliance, diversion, flirt, flirtation, flirting, folly, foolery, horseplay, indulgence, recreation, teasing, tomfoolery, toying, word play |
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| 6. |
(noun) a preset plan of action in team sports; "the coach drew up the plays for her team" |
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Related Words: baseball play, basketball play, football play, knock on, plan of action, razmataz, razzle, razzle-dazzle, razzmatazz |
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| 7. |
(noun) utilization or exercise; "the play of the imagination" |
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Related Words: employment, exercise, usage, use, utilisation, utilization |
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| 8. |
(verb) play games, play sports; "We played hockey all afternoon"; "play cards" |
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Related Words: ace, backstop, bandy, bid, bowl, bully off, call, catch, compete, complete, contend, cradle, cricket, croquet, develop, die, exit, face off, field, foul, fullback, fumble, gamble, golf, misplay, nail, play out, putt, quarterback, replay, seesaw, start, stroke, tee off, unblock, vie, volley, walk |
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| 9. |
(verb) bet or wager (money); "He played $20 on the new horse"; "She plays the races" |
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Related Words: gamble, underplay |
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| 10. |
(verb) put (a card or piece) into play during a game: "He is playing his cards close to his chest" |
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Related Words: cover, deploy |
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| 11. |
(verb) use to one's advantage; "She palys on her clients' emotions" |
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Related Words: exploit |
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| 12. |
(verb) discharge or direct or be discharged or directed as if in a continuous stream: "play water from a hose"; "The fountains played all day" |
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Related Words: discharge |
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| 13. |
(verb) perform on a certain location: "He played the casinos in Las Vegas" |
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Related Words: perform |
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| 14. |
(verb) be performed; "What's playing in the local movie theater?" |
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Related Words: debut |
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| 15. |
(verb) cause to be played: "They ran the tapes over and over again" |
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Synonyms: run |
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| 16. |
(verb) pretend to be somebody in the framework of a game or playful activity; "Let's play like I am mommy"; "Play cowboy and Indians" |
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Related Words: assume, feign, sham, simulate |
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| 17. |
(verb) as of melodies; "Play it again, Sam"; "She played the third movement very beautifully" |
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Synonyms: render, spiel |
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Related Words: bang out, bugle, jazz, misplay, modulate, prelude, rag, re-create, recapitulate, repeat, replay, reprise, slur, tongue |
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| 18. |
(verb) play (music) on an instrument; "The band played all night long" |
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Related Words: accompany, bow, follow, perform, sound off, strike up, symphonize |
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| 19. |
(verb) perform music on (a musical instrument); "He plays the flute"; "Can you play on this old recorder?" |
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Synonyms: play on |
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Related Words: beat, chord, clarion, drum, fiddle, harp, pipe, sound, trumpet, tweedle |
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| 20. |
(verb) move or seem to move quickly, lightly, or irregularly; "The spotlights played on the politicians" |
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Related Words: go, locomote, move, travel |
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| 21. |
(verb) cause to move or operate freely within a bounded space, as of machinery |
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Related Words: displace, move |
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| 22. |
(verb) act in a specified way; "This factor played only a minor part in his decision" |
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Related Words: act, move |
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| 23. |
(verb) engage in recreational activities rather than work; occupy oneself in a diversion; "On weekends I play"; "The students all recreate alike" |
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Synonyms: recreate |
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| 24. |
(verb) be at play; be engaged in playful activity; typical of children; "The kids were playing outside all day"; "I used to play with trucks as a little girl" |
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Related Words: arse around, cavort, dabble, disport, fool, fool around, frisk, frolic, gambol, horse around, lark, lark about, paddle, rollick, romp, run around, skylark, splash around, sport |
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| 25. |
(verb) behave in a certain way; "play safe," "play it safe"; "Play into the hands of" |
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Related Words: act, move |
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| 26. |
(verb) be received or accepted; "This speech didn't play well with the American public" |
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| 27. |
(noun) a dramatic work intended for performance by actors on a stage; "he wrote several plays but only one was produced on Broadway" |
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Synonyms: drama |
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Related Words: Passion play, dramatic composition, dramatic work, miracle play, morality play, mystery play, playlet, satyr play, theater of the absurd |
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| 28. |
(noun) a theatrical performance of a drama; "the play lasted two hours" |
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Related Words: curtain raiser, musical, musical comedy, musical theater, show |
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| 29. |
(noun) a state in which action is feasible; "the ball was still in play"; "insiders said the company's stock was in play" |
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Related Words: action, activeness, activity |
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| 30. |
(verb) pretend to have certain qualities or state of mind; "He acted the idiot"; "She plays deaf when the news are bad" |
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Synonyms: act, act as |
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Related Words: act, behave, do |
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| 31. |
(noun) the activity of doing something in an agreed succession; "it is my turn" or "it is still my play" |
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Synonyms: turn |
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Related Words: activity, at-bat, attack, bat, down, innings, lead, move, ruff, start, starting, trumping |
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| 32. |
(noun) an attempt to get something; "they made a futile play for power"; "he made a bid to gain attention" |
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Synonyms: bid |
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Related Words: attempt, effort, endeavor, endeavour, try |
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| 33. |
(verb) play a role or part; "Gielgud played Hamlet"; "She wants to act Lady Macbeth, but she is too young for the role" |
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Synonyms: act, represent |
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Related Words: act out, emote, enact, impersonate, masquerade, parody, portray, pose, re-create, reenact, spoof, support |
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| 34. |
(verb) perform on a stage or theater; "She acts in this play"; "He acted in "Julius Caesar"; "I played in "A Christmas Carol" |
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Synonyms: act, playact, roleplay |
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Related Words: ham, mime, overact, overplay, pantomime, perform, stooge, underact, underplay |
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| 35. |
(satellite adjective) imagined as in a play; "the make-believe world of theater"; "play money"; "dangling their legs in the water to catch pretend fish" |
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Synonyms: make-believe, pretend |
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| 36. |
(noun) movement or space for movement; "there was too much play in the steering wheel" |
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Synonyms: looseness |
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Related Words: movability, movableness, slack, slackness, wiggliness |
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| 37. |
(noun) verbal wit (often at another's expense but not to be taken seriously); "he became a figure of fun" |
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Synonyms: fun, sport |
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Related Words: clowning, comedy, drollery, funniness, humor, humour, jocosity, jocularity, pun, punning, waggery, waggishness, wit, witticism, wittiness, wordplay |
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| 38. |
(noun) a weak and tremulous light; "the shimmer of colors on iridescent feathers"; "the play of light on the water" |
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Synonyms: shimmer |
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Related Words: alteration, change, modification |
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| 39. |
(noun) the removal of constraints; "he gave free rein to his impulses"; "they gave full play to the artist's talent" |
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Synonyms: free rein |
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Related Words: freedom |
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| 40. |
(noun) the act of playing for stakes in the hope of winning (including the payment of a price for a chance to win a prize); "his gambling cost him a fortune"; "there was heavy play at the blackjack table" |
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Synonyms: gambling, gaming |
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Related Words: bet, diversion, gambling game, game of chance, hazarding, recreation, risking, sporting life, staking, throw, unlicensed gambling, vice, wager |
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| 41. |
(noun) a deliberate coordinated movement requiring dexterity and skill; "he made a great play" |
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Synonyms: maneuver, manoeuvre |
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Related Words: assist, ball hawking, blitz, completion, figure, footwork, icing, icing the puck, jugglery, linebacker blitzing, motion, mousetrap, move, movement, obstruction, pass completion, safety blitz, shot, stroke, trap play |
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| 42. |
(verb) consider not very seriously; "He is trifiling with her"; "She plays with the thought of moving to Tasmania" |
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Synonyms: dally, trifle |
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Related Words: consider, deal, look at, take |
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| 43. |
(verb) contend against an opponent in a sport, game, or battle; "Princeton plays Yale this weekend"; "Charlie likes to play Mary" |
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Synonyms: encounter, meet, take on |
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Related Words: confront, face, replay |
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| 44. |
(verb) cause to happen or to occur as a consequence; "wreak havoc"; "bring comments"; "play a joke"; "The rain brought relief to the drought-stricken area" |
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Synonyms: bring, make for, work, wreak |
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Related Words: create, make |
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| 45. |
(verb) behave carelessly or indifferently; "Play about with a young girl's affection" |
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Synonyms: dally, flirt, toy |
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Related Words: act, move |
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| 46. |
(noun) (in games or plays or other performances) the time during which play proceeds; "rain stopped play in the 4th inning" |
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Synonyms: period of play, playing period |
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Related Words: amount, bout, chukker, final period, first period, frame, half, inning, measure, over, period, quantity, quantum, quarter, round, second period, set, third period, turn |
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| 47. |
(verb) manipulate manually with no purpose or aim; often without being conscious of doing so; "She played nervously with her wedding ring"; "Don't fiddle with the screws" |
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Synonyms: diddle, fiddle, toy |
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Related Words: manipulate |
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