How to Use at play in a Sentence

at play

idiom
Definition of at playnext
  • And to be fair, there is some seasonality at play here.
    — Tony Maglio, IndieWire, 23 July 2024
  • However, experts said a couple of factors may be at play.
    — Lauryn Higgins, Health, 4 June 2024
  • But perhaps most reminiscent of hotel design is all of the subtle layering at play.
    — Leilani Marie Labong, Architectural Digest, 24 July 2024
  • But Gelb said there can be other factors at play, such as online stores eating into brick-and-mortar stores' profit margins.
    — Megan Cerullo, CBS News, 26 July 2024
  • There are a lot of fantastical elements at play here, a beached whale, an astronaut falling from the sky, many wild coincidences.
    — Mikey O'Connell, The Hollywood Reporter, 22 May 2024
  • Federal investigators said gaps in safety regulations were at play in the crash.
    — Austin L. Miller, USA TODAY, 14 May 2024
  • The backdrop is a tiny town on the edge of the Gobi Desert, a place of uneasy modernization, but the dynamics at play are universal.
    — Matt Brennan, Los Angeles Times, 25 May 2024
  • Former staff members and supporters suggest there is more at play, both personally and politically.
    — Annie Karni, New York Times, 26 May 2024
  • Additional factors fueling price decline Still, other factors are also at play.
    — Khristopher J. Brooks, CBS News, 11 June 2024
  • In their rush to defend Clark, newcomers fail to see the historical, systemic issues at play and instead assume everyone is picking on their favorite player.
    — Shakeia Taylor, Chicago Tribune, 4 June 2024
  • But despite whatever positives there may be to staying in place longer, the increasingly unaffordable cost of homeownership in today’s housing world is at play here.
    — Amanda Gerut, Fortune, 31 May 2024
  • Niacinamide and radiance-boosting vitamin C are also at play, making for an effective and non-irritating way to work toward multiple skin goals.
    — Angela Trakoshis, Allure, 25 July 2024
  • But there was a deeper force at play beyond just his individual work ethic, which propelled his consecutive albums with Future to unprecedented heights.
    — Maha Elnabawi, Billboard, 15 May 2024
  • Someone who comes into his life, who is an artist herself, who is politically active, who ends up moving in with him and being incredibly important to his awakening to some of these issues at play.
    — Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, 24 July 2024
  • But that does not mean there was not a quid pro quo at play, too.
    — Rory Smith, New York Times, 10 Apr. 2024
  • And so all of those things were at play in creating the band.
    — Lexy Perez, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 May 2024
  • There are all these things at play that shape what music is.
    — Tommy Cummings, Dallas News, 3 Aug. 2023
  • In this process, there is a hidden hand at play: magnetism.
    — Quanta Magazine, 1 July 2024
  • The bar includes a landscaped area for people to hang out with the dogs or just watch them at play.
    — Joseph Hernandez, Kansas City Star, 9 July 2024
  • There may be, in fact, multiple pieces of new physics at play.
    — Quanta Magazine, 19 Jan. 2024
  • And there are no federal, state or court mandates at play, so cut that list of 16 down to 11.
    — Andy Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune, 15 Sep. 2023
  • Then came a 1973 incident in Poland, and that’s the one that really showed off the fungus at play.
    — Tim Newcomb, Popular Mechanics, 9 May 2023
  • At the very least, a certain measure of moral relativism was at play this past week.
    — Dana Milbank, Washington Post, 14 June 2024
  • There are other legal issues and questions at play in the case.
    — Henry Gass, The Christian Science Monitor, 21 Apr. 2024
  • Your best bet is to stay grounded while embracing the inevitable changes that are at play.
    — Valerie Mesa, Peoplemag, 3 July 2024
  • Of course, there are other factors at play, such as provenance.
    — Oren Hartov, Robb Report, 22 Mar. 2024
  • There’s a third matter at play here, too, in who gets to decide what is helpful to someone else.
    — Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 28 Jan. 2024
  • With all of these factors at play, 42 million Americans are at odds on how to live a healthy life.
    — Ashley Tyrner, Fortune, 2 June 2023
  • But another factor was at play: his strong support for the brand-new apartheid regime.
    — Joshua Benton, The Atlantic, 21 Sep. 2023
  • And of course there’s a big strike right now, and these issues of streaming and compensation are very much at play.
    — Tomris Laffly, Harper's BAZAAR, 31 May 2023

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

Last Updated: