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

For media playback, the Pixel 10 produces stereo audio from the earpiece and down-firing speaker. —PC Magazine, 4 Sep. 2025

The Heston 60 includes both Dolby Atmos and DTS-X decoding in its audio format support, as well as playback of the SBC, LC3, AAC Mpeg4, ALAC, FLAC, LPCM, Ogg Vorbis and WMA/WMA9 audio file formats. —John Archer, Forbes.com, 3 Sep. 2025

Verb

Miami’s next two games should be easy ones against Bethune-Cookman and South Florida, but then the Hurricanes play back-to-back against in-state rivals Florida and Florida State. —Tim Casey, Forbes.com, 1 Sep. 2025

Pouncey, one of the top safeties in the country, leads the way and Sutton plays back there with him at the strong safety spot. —Chris Hays, The Orlando Sentinel, 19 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1929, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1949, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for playback

• aback
• anzac
• attack
• backpack
• backtrack
• bareback
• blackjack
• brownback
• buyback
• callback
• cognac
• comeback

Kids 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)