at play
idiom
1
: in the act of playing
the sounds of children at play
2
: being something that helps produce or influence a result
Several issues are at play in determining the price of gasoline.
Examples of at play in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Finding short fragments of DNA less than 40 base pairs long is an initial positive indicator of older DNA, but other environmental factors might be at play, according to Elena Irene Zavala, an assistant professor in forensic genetics at the University of Copenhagen.
—
Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 7 Nov. 2025
And to get to play these characters that are layered and complex and multidimensional is really fun — anything where there's a public and a private life, and a secret, and different elements at play, and having to keep different balls in the air is really fulfilling and fun.
—Lauren Huff, Entertainment Weekly, 7 Nov. 2025
Another theme at play is travel.
—Lisa Stardust, Refinery29, 7 Nov. 2025
The underlying principle is the same one that’s at play in the modern LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA detectors, but with a much smaller-scale set of experiments.
—Big Think, 7 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for at play
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 7 Nov. 2025
And to get to play these characters that are layered and complex and multidimensional is really fun — anything where there's a public and a private life, and a secret, and different elements at play, and having to keep different balls in the air is really fulfilling and fun.
—Lauren Huff, Entertainment Weekly, 7 Nov. 2025
Another theme at play is travel.
—Lisa Stardust, Refinery29, 7 Nov. 2025
The underlying principle is the same one that’s at play in the modern LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA detectors, but with a much smaller-scale set of experiments.
—Big Think, 7 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for at play
Cite this Entry
“At play.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/at%20play. Accessed 9 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share