PLAYS Synonyms: 240 Similar and Opposite Words

plays 1 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of play

as in recreates

to engage in activity for amusement told her son that he needed some time to run and play in the yard after his hard work

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as in performs

to present a portrayal or performance of played Hamlet in the campus production of the classic

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as in mocks

to pretend to be (what one is not) in appearance or behavior stop playing the innocent, because I know that you were behind that prank

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as in idles

to spend time in aimless activity just played around while we waited for the bus to arrive

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as in manipulates

to deal with (something) usually skillfully or efficiently this is how we're going to play the situation

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as in puts

to risk (something) on the outcome of an uncertain event figuring that she had little to lose, she played her last few bucks on the state lottery

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plays

2 of 2

noun

plural of play

as in dramas

a written work in which the story is told through speech and action that is intended to be acted out on stage we'll be putting on a school play using that stage

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as in uses

the act or practice of employing something for a particular purpose the host's sense of humor was obviously in play during the awards ceremony

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as in ruses

a clever often underhanded means to achieve an end the guy at the bar made an unusually creative play to get her phone number

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of plays

Verb

At sunset its Amina Muaddi slingbacks, when honeymooners head to the bar to make the most of the martini shots while a could-be-a-model DJ plays cool and breezy beats in a midriff-bearing top. —

Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 1 June 2026 And the company’s focus on wellness plays well in a state that was at the center of the health food movement in the 1960s and 1970s. —

Aldo Svaldi, Denver Post, 31 May 2026 The Saturday Night Live alum plays Suzie, a coworker of Adam Glenn/He-Man (Nicholas Galitzine), in the new Masters of the Universe film. —

Lexi Lane, PEOPLE, 31 May 2026 Still comely at the beginning of her eighth decade, Davis plays Renee, a former music executive with a penchant for younger men. —

Graham Hillard, The Washington Examiner, 31 May 2026 Building on a concept devised by the director and producer Pierre-Henri Léon, Santiago Otheguy’s script plays fast and loose with Bizet’s opera and the Prosper Mérimée novella that inspired it — to the point of inventing an entirely new protagonist. —

Guy Lodge, Variety, 31 May 2026 Xavier is a pitcher and also plays shortstop. —

Ryan Hughes, CBS News, 31 May 2026 Menšík plays Andrey Rublev, another of Ruud’s generation. —

Matthew Futterman, New York Times, 31 May 2026 Lamine plays for the Spanish national team and for La Liga club Barcelona. —

Will McCurdy, PC Magazine, 31 May 2026

Noun

McNeal, a first-year catcher who normally plays outfield, made two excellent defensive plays in the second. —

Dan Albano, Oc Register, 31 May 2026 All was well after the final two games in Pittsburgh, in which the team made the plays and came up with clutch hitting, particularly Ian Happ. —

Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 30 May 2026 Sports Illustrated via Getty Images That’s because Cincinnati Reds’ great Pete Rose scored from second base, bowling over catcher Ray Fosse of the Cleveland Indians in one of the most controversial plays in history. —

Chuck Murr, Forbes.com, 30 May 2026 After starring in plays for the ACT Contemporary Theatre in Seattle and turns at the Public Theater and Playwrights Horizon in New York, she was cast as a tap dancer in the 1978 ABC comedy Apple Pie. —

Mike Barnes, HollywoodReporter, 30 May 2026 Receiving in rotation two plays later, junior opposite hitter Landon Ahern put a ball away for the set win. —

Tim Meehan, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 May 2026 Drew Sanders is looking for a home, and all Jonah Elliss does is make plays. —

Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 30 May 2026 If experimental and vanguard poetry is set on fragmenting the lyric I, verse plays and poet’s theater redistribute it. —

Literary Hub, 29 May 2026 Simmons explained the mentality behind his own plays while also soliciting and listening to Thorn’s feedback. —

Pj Green may 23, Kansas City Star, 23 May 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for plays

Verb

Gage’s version recreates the speech in a Southern dialect, which Truth almost certainly never used.

— Tracy Grant, Encyclopedia Britannica, 26 May 2026
Instead of a Buffy-like television show, however, this one recreates a fictional slasher franchise called Camp Miasma, a typical homicidal-maniac-versus-horny-teens-in-the-woods series that bears more than a passing resemblance to the Friday the 13th movies.

— David Fear, Rolling Stone, 20 May 2026