play out

verb

played out; playing out; plays out

transitive verb

1

a

: to perform to the end

play out a role

b

: use up, finish

2

: unreel, unfold

played out a length of line

—Gordon Webber

intransitive verb

1

: to become spent or exhausted

2

: develop, unfold

see how things play out

Synonyms

• spend
• consume
• drain
• exhaust
• draw down
• run out of
• use up
• reduce
• absorb
• use

Examples of play out in a Sentence

we've finally played out the leftovers from that huge holiday meal

Recent Examples on the Web

That’s how tariffs played out under the trade war during Trump’s first administration, according to one paper. —Bailey Schulz, USA Today, 30 June 2025

This shift is playing out at multiple levels: mining equipment priced in BTC, tokenized assets benchmarking against Bitcoin baskets, and emerging DeFi derivatives denominated in sats rather than cents. —Sean Lee, Forbes.com, 30 June 2025

But the battle also played out on the football pitch. —Michael Cox, New York Times, 29 June 2025

The 12th national championship has brought the swagger back, and with players who are back from injuries, playing out extra eligibility, transferring in, the roster is 15-deep and freshmen are going to have to develop out of the spotlight the outset of their careers, wait and earn their turn. —Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 28 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1598, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

Rhymes for play out

• about
• bailout
• blackout
• blowout
• breakout
• burnout
• buyout
• checkout
• closeout
• cutout
• devout
• dropout

Kids Definition

play out

verb

1

: to perform to the end

2

a

: to use up or finish

b

: to become exhausted : tire

3

: unreel, unfold