: one that plays: such as
a
: a person who plays a game
a baseball player
a chess player
She's one of the team's best players.
b
: a person who plays a musical instrument
a piano player
c
: actor
… what drew these audiences was the emergence of the movie star from the ranks of the wholly anonymous players of a decade earlier.—
David Nasaw
David Nasaw
d
: a device that reproduces recorded material (such as video images or music) from a usually specified medium
a CD player
e
: one actively involved especially in a competitive field or process : participant
a key player in politics
f
or less commonly playa US slang
: a person and especially a man who has many lovers
Handsome and a well-paid professional, Keith, 35, chose to be a player, juggling a series of relatively brief and sometimes over-lapping intimate relationships with women.—Michel Marriott
Michel MarriottThis album has a lot of sexual references. It's almost like Bobby's … a playa.—Elliott Wilson
Elliott WilsonNote: The variant playa is more common in transcribed speech.
Examples of player in a Sentence
She's one of the team's best players.
The band's lead guitar player hurt his hand and couldn't play.
Piano players are called pianists.
Recent Examples on the Web
ZiPS, a popular player projection model found on FanGraphs, predicts Goldschmidt will hit .250/.325/.437 with 23 homers, 81 RBI, a 116 wRC+ and 2.2 WAR in 2025.
—Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 19 Feb. 2025
Earlier this month, recently signed Los Angeles Football Club player Olivier Giroud had $500,000 in jewelry reportedly snatched from his house.
—Cheyenne Roundtree, Rolling Stone, 19 Feb. 2025
The supermodel and basketball player reportedly became engaged on Feb. 13 ahead of the Valentine’s Day holiday.
—Julia Teti, WWD, 19 Feb. 2025
Moore played in all four of CSU’s games during the 2020 season, shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, but three season-ending injuries in the following years pulled the plug on his football career, according to his player portal.
—Lauren Penington, The Denver Post, 19 Feb. 2025
See all Example Sentences for player 
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 19 Feb. 2025
Earlier this month, recently signed Los Angeles Football Club player Olivier Giroud had $500,000 in jewelry reportedly snatched from his house.
—Cheyenne Roundtree, Rolling Stone, 19 Feb. 2025
The supermodel and basketball player reportedly became engaged on Feb. 13 ahead of the Valentine’s Day holiday.
—Julia Teti, WWD, 19 Feb. 2025
Moore played in all four of CSU’s games during the 2020 season, shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, but three season-ending injuries in the following years pulled the plug on his football career, according to his player portal.
—Lauren Penington, The Denver Post, 19 Feb. 2025
See all Example Sentences for player
Dictionary Entries Near player
Cite this Entry
“Player.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/player. Accessed 22 Feb. 2025.
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