How to Use fair play in a Sentence

fair play

noun
  • The team with the lowest points has the best ‘fair play’ score.
    — Colin Millar, New York Times, 23 June 2026
  • And for years, there hasn’t been a lot of fair play in this country.
    — Tim Reynolds, ajc, 18 Oct. 2021
  • Keep an open mind and do your best to strive for equality and fair play.
    — Eugenia Last, The Mercury News, 21 May 2024
  • But as the proverb goes turnabout is fair play, and at least two cats are now well aware of that.
    — Ashley Hoffman, Time, 28 Jan. 2020
  • The fee schedule is set in the interest of fair play for all schools.
    — Ben Thomas | [email protected], al, 15 Feb. 2023
  • Remember the rules of fair play and abide by them no matter the cost.
    — oregonlive, 13 Apr. 2020
  • So, that was pretty shocking, but this seems like turnaround is fair play.
    — Fox News, 16 Mar. 2018
  • While there may not be a cure for our national angst, there is still one thing that works — fair play.
    — Major Garrett, CBS News, 4 Nov. 2024
  • Loss of faith in knowing that fair play will prevail has damaged our sport and our morale.
    — Kaitlyn Weaver, CNN, 17 Feb. 2022
  • There are helmets and pads for protection; drug tests to ensure fair play.
    — Amy Bass, CNN, 2 Nov. 2022
  • And that is not a political statement, that's just fair play.
    — Benjamin Vanhoose, PEOPLE.com, 3 Aug. 2020
  • There are rules, not just etiquette standards, for sportsmanship and fair play.
    — Lori Nickel, USA TODAY, 3 Feb. 2022
  • She's got a lot to say about what all this means about fair play in the Olympic spirit, in just a few moments.
    — James Brown, USA TODAY, 20 Feb. 2022
  • These rules in black and white are defined by the government to ensure order and fair play.
    — Venkat Rao, Forbes.com, 7 May 2025
  • The sad thing is that the openness and fair play in writing about fashion have changed enormously.
    — James Fallon, Footwear News, 10 Sep. 2025
  • The point of musical chairs is to teach children fair play and sportsmanship.
    — Bernice L. McFadden, Longreads, 7 Aug. 2021
  • Kvitova notably also was well known throughout the sport for her fair play.
    — Jill Martin, CNN Money, 25 Aug. 2025
  • While turnabout seems fair play, that just isn’t the American Way.
    — Pat Lenhoff, chicagotribune.com, 19 June 2019
  • Expect grace notes; the kind of fair play that became a hallmark of the Tokyo Olympics.
    — Kurt Streeter, New York Times, 3 Feb. 2022
  • He was raised in a military family with a reverence for fair play.
    — Tim Dickinson, Rolling Stone, 24 June 2021
  • There is a win at all costs attitude that goes against the principles of sportsmanship and fair play.
    — Sarah Hughes, Rolling Stone, 19 Feb. 2022
  • This regularity could also move toward more of a norm of fair play.
    — The Tylt, AL.com, 2 Nov. 2017
  • Yet the fair play violations were surging even faster than the number of overall games.
    — Andrew Beaton, WSJ, 9 Dec. 2020
  • But there is no rule of war that requires Russia to simply treat this behavior as fair play.
    — Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, 4 Mar. 2022
  • Japan and Senegal were tied on all tiebreakers except ‘‘fair play points,’’ based on yellow and red cards.
    — Anne M. Peterson, BostonGlobe.com, 28 June 2018
  • Talk to your child about how cheating lessens their achievements and emphasize the importance of fair play.
    — Katherine Lee, Parents, 30 July 2024
  • Goal difference might be the deciding factor or goals scored or, failing that a team’s fair play record.
    — Phil Hay, New York Times, 26 June 2026
  • Their presence supported fair play across hundreds of matches.
    — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 9 Feb. 2026
  • Is there any part of him that sees it as fair play since Kaheroton did seemingly have some feelings for her first?
    — Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 28 Mar. 2022
  • The most consistent thing about them is being at (or near) the bottom of the fair play table for a third straight campaign.
    — The Athletic Uk Staff, New York Times, 2 Jan. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fair play.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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