toy with

verb

toyed with; toying with; toys with

1

: to think about (something) briefly and not very seriously

I toyed with the idea of moving to France but ended up staying here.

2

: to move or touch (something) with one's fingers often without thinking

She toyed with her hair while she talked on the phone.

3

: to deal with or control (someone or something) in a clever and usually unfair or selfish way

Do you really love me, or are you just toying with me?

Don't toy with my emotions.

Examples of toy with in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

By the end of the game, Spain were playing keep-ball, toying with their opponents as ‘Oles’ reverberated around the stadium. — Stuart James, New York Times, 18 July 2026

In Homer’s epic, Circe is a beautiful temptress who toys with the soldiers for pleasure. — Brent Lang, Variety, 18 July 2026

Speculation surrounding Kelce’s future in football comes after several seasons of the tight end publicly toying with the idea of retiring. — Rachel Raposas, PEOPLE, 17 July 2026

What makes the film compelling is how Pacino’s Will Dormer and Williams’ Walter Finch toy with each other over their pasts that are consuming them both. — Randy Myers, Mercury News, 14 July 2026