"play off" meaning in All languages combined

See play off on Wiktionary

Verb [English]

Forms: plays off [present, singular, third-person], playing off [participle, present], played off [participle, past], played off [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} play off (third-person singular simple present plays off, present participle playing off, simple past and past participle played off)
  1. (transitive, often with as) To portray (something) (as unimportant); to dismiss or make light of (a factor in a situation, or one's embarrassment about it); to pretend not to be embarrassed, upset, impressed, or otherwise affected by (it). Tags: often, transitive
    Sense id: en-play_off-en-verb-NYv7eanc Categories (other): English links with manual fragments, English entries with incorrect language header, English links with manual fragments, English phrasal verbs formed with "off", Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 45 19 28 8 Disambiguation of English links with manual fragments: 57 14 17 12 Disambiguation of English phrasal verbs formed with "off": 47 20 25 8 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 48 22 19 10 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 49 18 28 5
  2. (transitive) To set (other people) against one another: to induce competition between them, especially in a covert way so that they do not realize the degree to which they have been played (manipulated). Tags: transitive Derived forms: play-off [noun], playoff [noun]
    Sense id: en-play_off-en-verb-EHOamllw
  3. (sports, intransitive, transitive) To compete in a play-off; to compete against (an opponent) in a play-off. Tags: intransitive, transitive Categories (topical): Sports
    Sense id: en-play_off-en-verb-OVz3HvhN Topics: hobbies, lifestyle, sports
  4. (dated, transitive) To display; to show; to put in exercise. Tags: dated, transitive
    Sense id: en-play_off-en-verb-07DWdBOn

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "plays off",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "playing off",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "played off",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "played off",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "play off (third-person singular simple present plays off, present participle playing off, simple past and past participle played off)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English links with manual fragments",
          "parents": [
            "Links with manual fragments",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "45 19 28 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "57 14 17 12",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English links with manual fragments",
          "parents": [
            "Links with manual fragments",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "47 20 25 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English phrasal verbs formed with \"off\"",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "48 22 19 10",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "49 18 28 5",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "After tripping, Sara tried to play her embarrassment off by laughing with everyone else.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "Although he's obviously hung over, he's trying to play it off as food poisoning.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To portray (something) (as unimportant); to dismiss or make light of (a factor in a situation, or one's embarrassment about it); to pretend not to be embarrassed, upset, impressed, or otherwise affected by (it)."
      ],
      "id": "en-play_off-en-verb-NYv7eanc",
      "links": [
        [
          "as",
          "as"
        ],
        [
          "portray",
          "portray"
        ],
        [
          "dismiss",
          "dismiss"
        ],
        [
          "make light of",
          "make light of"
        ],
        [
          "embarrassed",
          "embarrassed"
        ],
        [
          "upset",
          "upset"
        ],
        [
          "impressed",
          "impressed"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, often with as) To portray (something) (as unimportant); to dismiss or make light of (a factor in a situation, or one's embarrassment about it); to pretend not to be embarrassed, upset, impressed, or otherwise affected by (it)."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "with as"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "often",
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "derived": [
        {
          "_dis1": "21 59 20 0",
          "tags": [
            "noun"
          ],
          "word": "play-off"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "21 59 20 0",
          "tags": [
            "noun"
          ],
          "word": "playoff"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Stalin's propensity to play off his subordinates against one another is a well-studied theme.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To set (other people) against one another: to induce competition between them, especially in a covert way so that they do not realize the degree to which they have been played (manipulated)."
      ],
      "id": "en-play_off-en-verb-EHOamllw",
      "links": [
        [
          "competition",
          "competition"
        ],
        [
          "covert",
          "covert"
        ],
        [
          "manipulate",
          "manipulate"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To set (other people) against one another: to induce competition between them, especially in a covert way so that they do not realize the degree to which they have been played (manipulated)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Sports",
          "orig": "en:Sports",
          "parents": [
            "Human activity",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To compete in a play-off; to compete against (an opponent) in a play-off."
      ],
      "id": "en-play_off-en-verb-OVz3HvhN",
      "links": [
        [
          "sports",
          "sports"
        ],
        [
          "play-off",
          "play-off"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(sports, intransitive, transitive) To compete in a play-off; to compete against (an opponent) in a play-off."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "transitive"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "hobbies",
        "lifestyle",
        "sports"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "to play off tricks",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To display; to show; to put in exercise."
      ],
      "id": "en-play_off-en-verb-07DWdBOn",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(dated, transitive) To display; to show; to put in exercise."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dated",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "play off"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English links with manual fragments",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English phrasal verbs",
    "English phrasal verbs formed with \"off\"",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "noun"
      ],
      "word": "play-off"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "noun"
      ],
      "word": "playoff"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "plays off",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "playing off",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "played off",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "played off",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "play off (third-person singular simple present plays off, present participle playing off, simple past and past participle played off)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English links with manual fragments",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "After tripping, Sara tried to play her embarrassment off by laughing with everyone else.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "Although he's obviously hung over, he's trying to play it off as food poisoning.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To portray (something) (as unimportant); to dismiss or make light of (a factor in a situation, or one's embarrassment about it); to pretend not to be embarrassed, upset, impressed, or otherwise affected by (it)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "as",
          "as"
        ],
        [
          "portray",
          "portray"
        ],
        [
          "dismiss",
          "dismiss"
        ],
        [
          "make light of",
          "make light of"
        ],
        [
          "embarrassed",
          "embarrassed"
        ],
        [
          "upset",
          "upset"
        ],
        [
          "impressed",
          "impressed"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, often with as) To portray (something) (as unimportant); to dismiss or make light of (a factor in a situation, or one's embarrassment about it); to pretend not to be embarrassed, upset, impressed, or otherwise affected by (it)."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "with as"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "often",
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Stalin's propensity to play off his subordinates against one another is a well-studied theme.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To set (other people) against one another: to induce competition between them, especially in a covert way so that they do not realize the degree to which they have been played (manipulated)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "competition",
          "competition"
        ],
        [
          "covert",
          "covert"
        ],
        [
          "manipulate",
          "manipulate"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To set (other people) against one another: to induce competition between them, especially in a covert way so that they do not realize the degree to which they have been played (manipulated)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English transitive verbs",
        "en:Sports"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To compete in a play-off; to compete against (an opponent) in a play-off."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "sports",
          "sports"
        ],
        [
          "play-off",
          "play-off"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(sports, intransitive, transitive) To compete in a play-off; to compete against (an opponent) in a play-off."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "transitive"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "hobbies",
        "lifestyle",
        "sports"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English dated terms",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "to play off tricks",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To display; to show; to put in exercise."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(dated, transitive) To display; to show; to put in exercise."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dated",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "play off"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-11-21 using wiktextract (95d2be1 and 64224ec). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.