playback

1 of 2

noun

play·back ˈplā-ˌbak

: an act or instance of reproducing recorded sound or pictures often immediately after recording

play back

2 of 2

verb

played back; playing back; plays back

transitive verb

: 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

Noun

Here's the ad: Joe Biden 788K subscribers Your Family | Biden-Harris 2024 Joe Biden Search Watch later Share Copy link Info Shopping Tap to unmute If playback doesn't begin shortly, try restarting your device. —

Olivia Rinaldi, CBS News, 30 Nov. 2023 The Kelly Clarkson Show Search Watch later Share Copy link Info Shopping Tap to unmute If playback doesn't begin shortly, try restarting your device. —

Tom Winter, NBC News, 30 Nov. 2023 Click the AirPlay icon (the upward arrow and two circles) next to the volume level slider, then pick your HomePod from the list that appears to transfer playback duties. —

David Nield, Popular Science, 30 Nov. 2023 Even this base model is plenty fast, and battery life is a solid 8.5 hours of full-screen video playback time. —

Eric Ravenscraft, WIRED, 27 Nov. 2023 Compared to the One, the Sonos Era 100 delivers better sound thanks to new capabilities like stereo playback and improved bass response. —

Sheena Vasani, The Verge, 17 Nov. 2023 The Kelly Clarkson Show 2.54M subscribers Martha Stewart Cancelled Thanksgiving The Kelly Clarkson Show Search Watch later Share Copy link Info Shopping Tap to unmute If playback doesn't begin shortly, try restarting your device. —

Rebecca Cohen, NBC News, 17 Nov. 2023 Vanced used a WebView and tricked YouTube into playing ad-free videos and unlocked YouTube Premium features like background playback. —

Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 6 Nov. 2023 The less demanding chip left the Ally with much more gas in the tank for video playback, running for nearly 12 hours on our test compared with the Z1 Extreme Ally’s eight-and-a-half-hour runtime. —

PCMAG, 18 Sep. 2023

Verb

The Ultra can play back content locally from a USB drive, such as a flash drive or external hard drive. —

Geoffrey Morrison, wsj.com, 9 Nov. 2023 He was flagged for pass interference on his first play back in the game. —

Fox News, 15 Oct. 2023 And anyone who tries to predict what’s going to happen over the next five years is going to look a bit silly when that prediction is played back. —

Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Oct. 2023 His is the kind of role that aristocrats played back in the 1800s, when their unelected influence extended to statecraft. —

Samanth Subramanian, WIRED, 5 Oct. 2023 Video cameras and microphones are also plumbed throughout, allowing simulations to be recorded, then played back in debriefing rooms where teams can go over what worked, what didn’t and why. —

Paul Sisson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 14 Apr. 2023 As if to build a case in court, the series then plays back all of the times Winbush ignored Team Hoorae’s advice in a lengthy flashback montage. —

Daniel D'addario, Variety, 10 July 2023 These give them the ability to play back high-quality media from the likes of Netflix and Disney+. —

Dave Leclair, PCMAG, 12 May 2023 In this world, there’s a device known as SQUID, in which people’s thoughts can be recorded, played back, and obsessed over for the right price. —

Vulture, 16 Mar. 2023 See More

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