PLAYS OUT Synonyms: 63 Similar and Opposite Words

plays out

verb

present tense third-person singular of play out

as in spends

to make complete use of we've finally played out the leftovers from that huge holiday meal

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Example Sentences

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Recent Examples of plays out But some in the city are waiting to see how a separate court battle in Boston over changes to multiple national parks, including the President’s House, plays out for answers. — Danny Freeman, CNN Money, 28 June 2026 Cook, who has remained in the post while the case plays out, called the allegations a pretext to oust her over monetary policy differences. — Will Dunham, USA Today, 28 June 2026 The heroic death plays out almost as a footnote in an otherwise grim day at sea. — Josh Wigler, HollywoodReporter, 22 June 2026 This comes as a Big 12 lawsuit against the university and others, plays out in court. — S.e. Jenkins, CBS News, 16 June 2026 Cynthia wants to get down to the bottom of Shamea’s erratic behavior, and the scene plays out like an angsty teen getting sent to the principal’s office. — Ile-Ife Okantah, Vulture, 15 June 2026 Less than two miles away, a similarly bustling scene plays out on California Avenue, often considered Palo Alto’s second downtown. — Kate Bradshaw, Mercury News, 9 June 2026 The thriller plays out from the perspective of both women. — Lynette Rice, Deadline, 9 June 2026 In humans with advanced metabolic disease, the same collapse plays out in Charcot’s foot, where the bones of the ankle and midfoot fracture and disintegrate under the weight of a body the metabolism can no longer regulate. — Joshua Moen, STAT, 8 June 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for plays out

Verb

Gray is central to the investment calls Blackstone makes, and spends his weekends reading memos on potential deals in preparation for his weekly investment committee meetings.

— Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, semafor.com, 28 Aug. 2026
Our roads get a D+ by the American Society of Civil Engineers, which found Colorado spends 35% more on car repairs than the national average.

— Shaun Boyd, CBS News, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of spends

Verb

That figure assumes the vehicle consumes 100 watt-hours per mile and its solar panels deliver at least four kWh of usable energy to the battery during the day.

— Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 28 Aug. 2026
Many facilities use evaporative cooling, which consumes water to remove server heat.

— Mark Drapeau, Fortune, 25 Aug. 2026

Definition of consumes

Verb

Once the cycle is complete, the dirty water drains away and you’re left with clean, wet clothing.

— Mary Catherine McAnnally Scott, Southern Living, 21 Aug. 2026
Defensiveness extends conversations, weakens credibility and drains emotional energy that could have been directed toward solving problems.

— Rodger Dean Duncan, Forbes.com, 13 Aug. 2026

Definition of drains

Verb

If a bureaucratic process exhausts whatever time a citizen has available, then benefits are lost or rights are denied.

— Joshua Rothman, New Yorker, 14 Aug. 2026
That’s because even ordinary winds – and far worse, storms and earthquakes – cause tall buildings to sway, which ruins people’s concentration, wrecks their mood, and even exhausts them.

— New Atlas, New Atlas, 24 July 2026

Definition of exhausts

Verb

Standard usage draws down a prepaid credit balance, while enterprise customers can arrange invoicing.

— Janakiram MSV, Forbes.com, 19 Aug. 2026
Asked about arms sales to Taiwan, Hegseth downplayed concerns that a multi-billion-dollar package could be ‌affected as the United States draws down its weapons stockpiles amid the Middle ⁠East conflict.

— Reuters, NBC news, 30 May 2026

Definition of draws down

Verb

This outer layer absorbs physical stress directly, protecting the delicate internal materials from bending or cracking under load.

— Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 26 Aug. 2026
As Altman absorbs the public’s fears and frustrations over AI, the company has recently sought to elevate Brockman’s profile as a counterweight.

— Alex Heath, Time, 26 Aug. 2026

Definition of absorbs

Verb

The department said the policies encouraged schools to conceal from parents whether their child uses different pronouns and allowed schools to print a different name on diplomas without parental knowledge.

— Kendrick Calfee, Kansas City Star, 27 Aug. 2026
Your immune system needs iron to fight infections, and your body uses iron to make hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen from your lungs to other organs and tissues.

— Anahad O’Connor, Washington Post, 27 Aug. 2026