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

Taylor, a fluid 6-foot-5, is already the Jets’ second-best receiver and plays with a quarterback, Justin Fields, who is prone to targeting tight ends — fifth-highest tight end target rate since 2021, and Cole Kmet had a career-high 719 yards with Fields as his quarterback in 2023. —Jacob Robinson, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2025

Fort Worth All Saints and Plano Prestonwood suspended play with the Saints leading 28-21. —Charles Baggarly, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 6 Sep. 2025

Basketball fans will be able to play with the WNBA’s biggest, from Minnesota Lynx star and MVP candidate Napheesa Collier, who has the game’s highest ranking (98), to Indiana Fever phenom Caitlin Clark. —Eric Jackson, Sportico.com, 5 Sep. 2025

McNally also played with the idea that the older man trying to catch Frank was, at least in this warped universe, a kind of surrogate father who developed genuine affection for his quarry. —Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, 5 Sep. 2025