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

In a community update, a Spotify moderator said people were experiencing problems with login, playback and the Support site. —Anne Marie D. Lee, CBS News, 12 June 2025

Season to date, The Cleaning Lady is averaging just 1.67 million total viewers (with delayed playback), down 13% from last year. —Rebecca Luther, TVLine, 6 June 2025

Verb

Music from an external device, such as a smartphone, can now be played back in high-quality, taking full advantage of the SP4000’s digital processing power. —Mark Sparrow, Forbes.com, 9 May 2025

Innovations in tech lead to a memory implant, which records everything the user sees and can be played back exactly as it was seen. —Barry Levitt, Time, 10 Apr. 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)