How to Use play in a Sentence

play

1 of 2 verb
  • It's your turn to play.
  • The children were playing in the yard.
  • No one dares to play chess with him.
  • Did you play any sports in high school?
  • The children were playing hide-and-seek.
  • He played by himself in his room.
  • Can Sara come out and play?
  • I have a chess set. Do you want to play?
  • He played in every major tournament this year.
  • She hurt her wrist but decided to continue playing.
  • Brunicke plays the game like an adult.
    — Josh Yohe, New York Times, 1 Oct. 2025
  • And here’s why that tragedy plays as high camp.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 22 Oct. 2025
  • Who should the Knicks rather play?
    — Bob Harkins, New York Times, 28 May 2026
  • Just might be a horse to play across the board.
    — Danny Brewer, Forbes.com, 4 Sep. 2025
  • Rodin plays one of the bullies.
    — Alex Ross, New Yorker, 14 Mar. 2026
  • White did not play the last eight minutes.
    — Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 14 Feb. 2026
  • Both teams have played a clean game so far with eight turnovers apiece.
    — Andrew Greif, NBC news, 4 June 2026
  • This isn’t the time for playing safe.
    — Meghan Rose, Glamour, 1 Oct. 2025
  • These five people all played a role.
    — Jacob Feldman, Sportico.com, 29 Oct. 2025
  • The teams play for the third time this season.
    — ABC News, 5 Apr. 2026
  • Feel free to play these at your watch parties.
    — Sucio Smash, VIBE.com, 7 Feb. 2026
  • That’s one of my favorite cities to play in.
    — Steve Baltin, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 2025
  • But the game is played in between the four lines.
    — Broderick Turner, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2026
  • The ocean plays a big part in cooling down our coasts.
    — Simmone Shah, Time, 8 Oct. 2025
  • Both grew up playing sports and were quite good at them.
    — Tracy Kimball, Charlotte Observer, 29 Apr. 2026
  • Brown told them to play faster, move the ball more, keep the floor spaced out.
    — Hannah Keyser, CNN Money, 11 June 2026
  • By age 2, most kids know how to play pretend.
    — Adithi Ramakrishnan, Los Angeles Times, 8 Feb. 2026
  • Still, these toys held up even when our kids played roughly with them.
    — Julia Pelly, Parents, 24 Oct. 2023
  • Would Rizo have played his idol?
    — Dalton Ross, Entertainment Weekly, 30 Oct. 2025
  • There’s a majesty to the way Hughes plays the game.
    — Dane Mizutani, Twin Cities, 31 Jan. 2026

play

2 of 2 noun
  • The play is based on a real-life event.
  • The two golfers were tied at the start of play yesterday.
  • Rain held up play for an hour.
  • I've gone to all of my daughter's school plays.
  • He wrote, directed, and starred in the play.
  • The book discusses the role of play in a child's development.
  • The chess match finally ended after three hours of play.
  • His fifth grade class is putting on a play about the first Thanksgiving.
  • Please, no talking during play.
  • His play cashed the check his mouth wrote.
    — Troy Renck, Denver Post, 24 Apr. 2026
  • There aren’t as many swing seats in play.
    — W. James Antle Iii, The Washington Examiner, 12 Sep. 2025
  • Look good feel good, feel good play good.
    — Zach Dean Outkick, FOXNews.com, 7 May 2026
  • Li doesn’t call the fourth-down play calls.
    — Alex Zietlow, Charlotte Observer, 9 Jan. 2026
  • But the week wasn’t all work and no play.
    — Lily Templeton, Footwear News, 20 Feb. 2026
  • No place awards the ball in play like Coors.
    — Troy Renck, Denver Post, 4 Apr. 2026
  • All that said, there’s a lot to like about the guard play.
    — Cj Moore, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025
  • What is this play saying to us now?
    — Sara Holdren, Vulture, 10 Apr. 2026
  • But the highlight plays stole the show.
    — Jon MacHota, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025
  • Some guys had to make some plays behind him.
    — Justice Delos Santos, Mercury News, 18 June 2026
  • Is the head coach calling the plays?
    — Gladys Louise Tyler, Forbes.com, 24 Jan. 2026
  • And the girls made the plays behind us.
    — Justin Vigil Zuniga, Daily News, 28 May 2026
  • Hit play before this deal goes away.
    — Juhi Wadia, PC Magazine, 11 Sep. 2025
  • Those are just plays that happen in the game.
    — Jeff Fletcher, Oc Register, 1 Sep. 2025
  • The full game went under, but not my play.
    — David Troy Outkick, FOXNews.com, 23 Apr. 2026
  • The play is more of a thriller than a whodunit.
    — Amy Reyes may 14, Miami Herald, 14 May 2026
  • Our kids just went out and made every play.
    — Darren Lauber, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 7 Mar. 2026
  • The play was called for Jaylen Brown.
    — Zack Cox, Boston Herald, 23 Oct. 2025
  • The batter reached and a run scored on the play.
    — Betsy Helfand, Twin Cities, 24 Apr. 2026
  • Some of us work on weekends, some of us play.
    — Gretta Monahan, Boston Herald, 23 Oct. 2025
  • The play is a hit, of sorts, or so Duse thinks.
    — Damon Wise, Deadline, 4 Sep. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word '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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