play with

phrasal verb

played with; playing with; plays with

1

: to move or handle (something) with one's hands or fingers often without thinking

Stop playing with that pen and pay attention to what I'm saying.

2

: to handle, change, or deal with (something) in a careless way

I played with the radio for a while but couldn't get it to work.

It's important to teach your children not to play with guns/fire/matches.

Don't play with my heart/emotions.

You have to take this seriously. You're playing with people's lives!

3

: to think about (something) briefly and not very seriously

I played with the idea of moving to Chicago but ended up staying in New York.

Examples of play with in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

There are voices, like Mariamielle Lamagat’s and Themba Mvula’s, to stop you in your tracks; there are pieces of the eclectic orchestra that delight by their presence alone — a baritone flute, a theorbo lute, a bunch of plastic buckets played with drumsticks. —Sara Holdren, Vulture, 5 Dec. 2025

The Chiefs have played with their backs against the wall all year long. —Sam McDowell 5, Kansas City Star, 5 Dec. 2025

Stevie wasn’t misbehaving or even playing with toys to occupy herself. —Alyce Collins, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 Dec. 2025

Marcus Castro’s two-year-old son played with a large inflatable soccer ball as the pair wore matching Brazil soccer jerseys, a nod to Castro’s home country. —Miami Herald, 5 Dec. 2025