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 And if Archie and Lili are to grow up playing with August and Ernest, could a reunion with other members of the royal family be in the cards? Isaac Bickerstaff, Glamour, 23 Oct. 2024 Indeed, Musk—who has previously fixated on privatizing Mars, running Twitter into the ground, and making delicate EVs—has found a new toy to play with: America’s democracy. Chloe Berger, Fortune, 23 Oct. 2024 Andrea Dawson of her interior design firm Dawson Design Associates, envisioned the look and feel of the all the spaces to echo the sentiments her love of NYC, spotlighting the beauty of an urban retreat, albeit with far more room to play with. Tiffany Leigh, Forbes, 22 Oct. 2024 In three seasons and change with the Nuggets, Gordon has often gushed about his experience living in Denver and playing with center Nikola Jokic. Bennett Durando, The Denver Post, 22 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for play with 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'play with.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Dictionary Entries Near play with

Cite this Entry

“Play with.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/play%20with. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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