play around
idiom
1
: 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 + onShe's been playing around on her husband.
—often + withShe's been playing around with one of her coworkers.
2
: to deal with or treat something in a careless way
When it comes to protecting his family, he doesn't play around.
—often + withYou can't play around with diabetes; it's a very serious disease.
3
: to use or do something in a way that is not very serious
It's time to stop playing around and get busy.
—often + onI spent the evening playing around on the piano/computer/Internet.
—often + withI'm not really a painter; I just like to play around with paints.
4
: 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
That gave us enough of a source of material to play around and come up with our own version of that.
—
Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 13 Feb. 2025
This one has six vibration patterns to play around with and is made with silicone that’s waterproof and easy to clean.
—Jessica Kasparian, SELF, 31 Jan. 2025
Fogelman likes to play around with time to create mysteries within otherwise straightforward narratives, and that’s how Paradise works, introducing little points of confusion and then filling in the backstory with flashbacks to flesh things out.
—Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 Jan. 2025
Other stunts in the Nosferatu campaign included 250-pound sarcophaguses in theater lobbies such as the Alamo Drafthouse that denizens could play around in; the NBCUniversal online gift store sold such beds for $20,000.
—Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 16 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for play around
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Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 13 Feb. 2025
This one has six vibration patterns to play around with and is made with silicone that’s waterproof and easy to clean.
—Jessica Kasparian, SELF, 31 Jan. 2025
Fogelman likes to play around with time to create mysteries within otherwise straightforward narratives, and that’s how Paradise works, introducing little points of confusion and then filling in the backstory with flashbacks to flesh things out.
—Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 Jan. 2025
Other stunts in the Nosferatu campaign included 250-pound sarcophaguses in theater lobbies such as the Alamo Drafthouse that denizens could play around in; the NBCUniversal online gift store sold such beds for $20,000.
—Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 16 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for play around
Cite this Entry
“Play around.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/play%20around. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.
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