play around

idiom

: to have sex with someone who is not one's husband, wife, or regular partner

He's not the kind of guy who plays around.

—often + on

She's been playing around on her husband.

—often + with

She's been playing around with one of her coworkers.

: to deal with or treat something in a careless way

When it comes to protecting his family, he doesn't play around.

—often + with

You can't play around with diabetes; it's a very serious disease.

: to use or do something in a way that is not very serious

It's time to stop playing around and get busy.

—often + on

I spent the evening playing around on the piano/computer/Internet.

—often + with

I'm not really a painter; I just like to play around with paints.

: to move or change something or to think about something in different ways often in order to find out what would work best

—+ with

I see you've been playing around with the living room furniture again.

The supervisor played around with our work schedules this week.

We played around with the idea for a while but eventually realized that it just wouldn't work.

Examples of play around in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

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The streaming revolution has created a truly global marketplace for the biggest shows to play around the world on a day-and-date binge basis. —

Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 18 Oct. 2024 These end-of-year parties are a chance to play around with seasonal colors and dazzling fabrics, which can then be worn during the holidays. —

Victoria Montalti, refinery29.com, 24 Oct. 2024 And if bare legs and ankle boots still feel too exposed for you, play around with the styling. —

Franziska Fuchs, Glamour, 22 Oct. 2024 That means teams are more likely to be empowered to play around building a specialist content writer or feedback analyser AI assistant themselves, says Hubert. —

Morgan Meaker, WIRED, 14 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for play around