: an act or instance of reproducing recorded sound or pictures often immediately after recording
played back; playing back; plays back
: to perform a playback of (a usually recently recorded disc or tape)
Examples of playback in a Sentence
Noun
The band listened to a playback of their first recording.
Recent Examples on the Web
Jonathan Garrett, The Atlantic, 29 Oct. 2025
Both Bose and Sony promise up to 30 hours of audio playback with noise cancellation enabled.
—PC Magazine, 25 Oct. 2025
Chris Willman, Variety, 30 Oct. 2025
Bichette is in the final year of his contract with Toronto and was playing back to his All-Star level before the injury.
—Hunter Mulholland, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Oct. 2025
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Noun
Similarly, some music influencers have begun piloting live-listening and album-playback sessions on Twitch—an attempt to transplant a cherished artifact of the analogue era into the digital world.
—Jonathan Garrett, The Atlantic, 29 Oct. 2025
Both Bose and Sony promise up to 30 hours of audio playback with noise cancellation enabled.
—PC Magazine, 25 Oct. 2025
Verb
The 10 cities where Wallen is booked to play back-to-back shows in stadium settings are Minneapolis, Las Vegas, Indianapolis, Gainesville, Denver, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Baltimore, Ann Arbor and Philadelphia.
—Chris Willman, Variety, 30 Oct. 2025
Bichette is in the final year of his contract with Toronto and was playing back to his All-Star level before the injury.
—Hunter Mulholland, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for playback
Cite this Entry
“Playback.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/playback. Accessed 3 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
playback
1 of 2 noun
play·back
ˈplā-ˌbak 
: the action of reproducing recorded sound or pictures often immediately after recording
play back
2 of 2 verb(ˈ)plā-ˈbak
: to perform a playback of (a disc or tape)
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