play with

phrasal verb

played with; playing with; plays with

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

Stop playing with that pen and pay attention to what I'm saying.

: to handle, change, or deal with (something) in a careless way

I played with the radio for a while but couldn't get it to work.

It's important to teach your children not to play with guns/fire/matches.

Don't play with my heart/emotions.

You have to take this seriously. You're playing with people's lives!

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

I played with the idea of moving to Chicago but ended up staying in New York.

Examples of play with in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web With closer Edwin Diaz suspended, the Mets are already playing with a shorthanded bullpen. —

Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News, 29 June 2024 Cepeda began his career with the San Francisco Giants and went on to play with the St. Louis Cardinals, Atlanta Braves, Oakland Athletics and Boston Red Sox. —

Jaylon Thompson, Kansas City Star, 29 June 2024 In addition to the Giants, Cepeda also played with the Braves, A’s, Royals and Red Sox. —

Bruce Haring, Deadline, 29 June 2024 There are plenty of noisy jump scares Many of the frights play with the idea of sound and silence, since the aliens hunt based on noise. —

Benjamin Vanhoose, Peoplemag, 28 June 2024 See all Example Sentences for play with

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