How to Use make a play for in a Sentence

make a play for

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Definition of make a play fornext
  • Good for Bacon to step up and make a play for us early there.
    — oregonlive, 15 Nov. 2020
  • Democrats had also hoped to make a play for the Iowa Senate seat held by Grassley.
    — Jonathan Weisman, BostonGlobe.com, 7 June 2022
  • Zhao, one of FTX’s first investors, stepped in to make a play for his former rival.
    — Brian Cheung, NBC News, 18 Nov. 2022
  • The Niners are one game back of the Seahawks for the division lead while the Cardinals, at 4-6, are looking to make a play for the wild card.
    — Ian Firstenberg, Chicago Tribune, 21 Nov. 2022
  • Whether that's a stop, make a play for somebody else, take a charge, get a 50/50 ball, stop an offensive rebound.
    — Mark Medina, USA TODAY, 19 July 2021
  • The question now is whether or not the club can right itself in time to make a play for advancing to the knockout stage of the competition.
    — Pat Brennan, The Enquirer, 12 July 2020
  • And now, co-star J. Smith Cameron, who plays the savvy Gerri, can make a play for her first trophy after two previous noms.
    — Clayton Davis, Variety, 26 Apr. 2023
  • And now, co-star J. Smith Cameron, who plays the savvy Gerri, can make a play for her first trophy after two previous noms.
    — Clayton Davis, Variety, 26 Apr. 2023
  • Lohani, who is studying Tata’s foray into airlines, says the group should make a play for Air India.
    — Ragini Saxena, Bloomberg.com, 6 Dec. 2020
  • Utah was already in good position with Saunders Jr., but Smith deciding to make a play for an eleventh-hour face-to-face meeting put it over the top.
    — Josh Newman, The Salt Lake Tribune, 3 Apr. 2022
  • Much of the content of the letters is about wider issues of diplomacy than simply Mary’s attempts to reclaim the throne of Scotland or make a play for the throne of England, Doran says.
    — Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 8 Feb. 2023
  • Ironically, both sides make a play for better long-term returns.
    — Chris Carosa, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2023
  • In a digital mashup that could reshape the retail landscape, Walmart is teaming up with Microsoft to make a play for the video app TikTok.
    — Charisse Jones, USA TODAY, 27 Aug. 2020
  • In the video below, Roy (No. 99) uses great hands, a solid rip technique, and fantastic lateral movement to make a play for only a 1-yard gain.
    — Lance Reisland, cleveland, 11 Jan. 2023
  • Also, any bidder with the scale and resources to make a play for EA will likely want to see how the Microsoft-Activision deal plays out with regulators.
    — Dan Gallagher, WSJ, 2 Feb. 2022
  • With no first-round pick this year, Miami also would have to do some maneuvering to make a play for Jackson, as the team cannot currently sign him to an offer sheet.
    — Nate Davis, USA TODAY, 8 Mar. 2023
  • While neither is projected to make a play for All-Defensive teams in the near future, having agile size like that will make life tougher on opposing guards.
    — Morten Jensen, Forbes, 17 Apr. 2022
  • When Durant requested a trade from the Nets last summer, there were questions about whether the Celtics could make a play for the star forward to pair him with Tatum and create one of the most explosive wing pairings the game has ever seen.
    — Adam Himmelsbach, BostonGlobe.com, 5 Dec. 2022
  • Any team jumping ahead of Indianapolis for a signal-caller would position quarterbacks to be three of the top four picks ... or a franchise looking for an elite pass rusher could make a play for Anderson or Wilson.
    — Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz, USA TODAY, 27 Apr. 2023
  • Of course, Kranz himself could make a play for the breakthrough director, but that category seems to be dominated by women, similar to last year when three of the five were occupied by female filmmakers.
    — Clayton Davis, Variety, 20 Oct. 2021
  • To truly make a play for independent and moderate voters, the GOP will need to develop a policy agenda that similarly goes on the offensive.
    — Patrick T. Brown, CNN, 10 Mar. 2023
  • The candidates not named Trump basically can go all-in with early nominating states like Iowa—and, maybe, New Hampshire as a back-up plan—or make a play for a national audience in conservative media outlets.
    — Philip Elliott, Time, 17 Aug. 2023
  • Up until this point in the offseason, reports and rumors suggested that the 49ers were either going to make a play for a dramatic upgrade in Deshaun Watson or find a backup with experience to play behind Garoppolo.
    — Vincent Frank, Forbes, 6 Apr. 2021
  • Some analysts also have suggested that PayPal could make a play for struggling online brokerage Robinhood, which just announced layoffs Tuesday.
    — Paul R. La Monica, CNN, 27 Apr. 2022
  • By that token, Bass could theoretically also make a play for an unlikely June victory, but her financial resources are far more limited.
    — Julia Wick, Los Angeles Times, 27 May 2022

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

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