See play off in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"forms": [
{
"form": "plays off",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "playing off",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "played off",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "played off",
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]
}
],
"head_templates": [
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},
"expansion": "play off (third-person singular simple present plays off, present participle playing off, simple past and past participle played off)",
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}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "41 18 30 11",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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"source": "w+disamb"
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{
"_dis": "46 20 23 11",
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"source": "w+disamb"
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{
"_dis": "55 23 15 7",
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{
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"coordinate_terms": [
{
"word": "laugh away"
},
{
"word": "laugh off"
},
{
"word": "style it out"
}
],
"examples": [
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],
"text": "After tripping, Sara tried to play her embarrassment off by laughing with everyone else.",
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"text": "Although he's obviously hungover, 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",
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[
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[
"upset",
"upset"
],
[
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]
],
"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": [
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{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "24 39 20 17",
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"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": [
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[
"covert",
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[
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"(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": [
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"kind": "other",
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"name": "Sports",
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"derived": [
{
"_dis1": "13 37 50 0",
"tags": [
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"word": "play-off"
},
{
"_dis1": "13 37 50 0",
"tags": [
"noun"
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"word": "playoff"
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"glosses": [
"To compete in a play-off; to compete against (an opponent) in a play-off."
],
"id": "en-play_off-en-verb-OVz3HvhN",
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[
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"(sports, intransitive, transitive) To compete in a play-off; to compete against (an opponent) in a play-off."
],
"tags": [
"intransitive",
"transitive"
],
"topics": [
"hobbies",
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{
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"text": "to play off tricks",
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}
],
"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",
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]
}
],
"word": "play off"
}
{
"categories": [
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"English lemmas",
"English links with manual fragments",
"English multiword terms",
"English phrasal verbs",
"English phrasal verbs formed with \"off\"",
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{
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"word": "play-off"
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{
"tags": [
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"word": "playoff"
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"forms": [
{
"form": "plays off",
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"present",
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},
{
"form": "playing off",
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"participle",
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},
{
"form": "played off",
"tags": [
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{
"form": "played off",
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"head_templates": [
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],
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"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
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"coordinate_terms": [
{
"word": "laugh away"
},
{
"word": "laugh off"
},
{
"word": "style it out"
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},
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57,
60
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"text": "Although he's obviously hungover, he's trying to play it off as food poisoning.",
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],
"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)."
],
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[
"as",
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],
[
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"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"
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"tags": [
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"type": "example"
}
],
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"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)."
],
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[
"competition",
"competition"
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],
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"(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"
]
},
{
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"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",
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]
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"text": "to play off tricks",
"type": "example"
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],
"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"
}
Download raw JSONL data for play off meaning in English (3.7kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-03-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-03-03 using wiktextract (05c257f and 9d9a410). 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.
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