play up

verb

played up; playing up; plays up

transitive verb

: emphasize

In the interview, try to play up your strengths.

also : exaggerate, overemphasize

It was only a small achievement but the CEO really played it up.

Synonyms of play up

• highlight
• emphasize
• stress
• feature
• point (up)

Examples of play up in a Sentence

that TV news program plays up sensational stories just to get higher ratings

Recent Examples on the Web

Williams said the challenging part of the series was playing up the rivalry between his character and his co-star and onscreen love interest, Ilya Rozanov, played by Connor Storrie. —Nicole Fell, HollywoodReporter, 8 Jan. 2026

There’s plenty to like about both veteran pitchers and reason to believe that competing in a home run-suppressing environment will allow their attributes to play up. —Andrew Baggarly, New York Times, 6 Jan. 2026

Yet these playoffs open without a dominant team partly because Buffalo, a preseason title favorite, hasn't consistently played up to that level. —Andrew Greif, NBC news, 5 Jan. 2026

Cornyn has played up his ties to Trump and says if the president endorses him, the primary effectively is over. —Gromer Jeffers Jr, Dallas Morning News, 2 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1814, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for play up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup

Kids Definition

play up

verb

: emphasize