"plug and play" meaning in English

See plug and play in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: plug & play [alternative], plug-'n'-play [alternative]
Head templates: {{en-noun|-}} plug and play (uncountable)
  1. (computing, transitive) A feature allowing new hardware added to a computer to be automatically detected and configured. Tags: transitive, uncountable Synonyms: PnP
    Sense id: en-plug_and_play-en-noun-YFDPkYQS Categories (other): Computing, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 15 16 37 32 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 22 20 26 32 Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences
  2. The use of a base formulation that can be modified with DNA or RNA from various different germs to create different vaccines. Tags: uncountable
    Sense id: en-plug_and_play-en-noun-vZWbGYJl Categories (other): Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 15 16 37 32 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 22 20 26 32
  3. (singing voice synthesis fandom slang, slightly derogatory) The unmodified usage of pre-tuned project files. Tags: uncountable
    Sense id: en-plug_and_play-en-noun-z0kUWBOt Categories (other): Singing voice synthesis, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 15 16 37 32 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 22 20 26 32
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: plug-and-play [adjective], plug and pray

Verb

Forms: plugs and plays [present, singular, third-person], plugging and playing [participle, present], plugged and played [participle, past], plugged and played [past], plug & play [alternative], plug-'n'-play [alternative]
Head templates: {{en-verb|plugs and plays|plugging and playing|plugged and played|plugged and played}} plug and play (third-person singular simple present plugs and plays, present participle plugging and playing, simple past and past participle plugged and played)
  1. (computing) To connect a device or component to a system such that it operates immediately without requiring any additional setup, configuration or installation. Related terms: Legacy Plug and Play, Universal Plug and Play Translations (feature that facilitates the discovery of a hardware component automatically): εφαρμογή και χρήση (efarmogí kai chrísi) [feminine] (Greek)
    Sense id: en-plug_and_play-en-verb-BikTT34b Categories (other): Computing, English coordinated pairs, English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Greek translations Disambiguation of English coordinated pairs: 26 17 16 41 Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 26 22 17 34 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 15 16 37 32 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 22 20 26 32 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 20 26 21 33 Disambiguation of Terms with Greek translations: 25 10 10 55 Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

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          "configure",
          "configure"
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        "(computing, transitive) A feature allowing new hardware added to a computer to be automatically detected and configured."
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      "id": "en-plug_and_play-en-noun-z0kUWBOt",
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          "tune",
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      ],
      "qualifier": "singing voice synthesis fandom slang; slightly derogatory; singing voice synthesis fandom slang; slightly derogatory",
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        "(singing voice synthesis fandom slang, slightly derogatory) The unmodified usage of pre-tuned project files."
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      "form": "plugs and plays",
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    },
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    {
      "form": "plugged and played",
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        "To connect a device or component to a system such that it operates immediately without requiring any additional setup, configuration or installation."
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        [
          "component",
          "component"
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        [
          "system",
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        [
          "such that",
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        [
          "operate",
          "operate"
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        [
          "immediately",
          "immediately"
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          "lang_code": "el",
          "roman": "efarmogí kai chrísi",
          "sense": "feature that facilitates the discovery of a hardware component automatically",
          "tags": [
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          ],
          "word": "εφαρμογή και χρήση"
        }
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}
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    {
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    },
    {
      "form": "plugged and played",
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        "past"
      ]
    },
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      ],
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        "To connect a device or component to a system such that it operates immediately without requiring any additional setup, configuration or installation."
      ],
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        "(computing) To connect a device or component to a system such that it operates immediately without requiring any additional setup, configuration or installation."
      ],
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        "computing",
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        "mathematics",
        "natural-sciences",
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "lang_code": "el",
      "roman": "efarmogí kai chrísi",
      "sense": "feature that facilitates the discovery of a hardware component automatically",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "εφαρμογή και χρήση"
    }
  ],
  "word": "plug and play"
}

Download raw JSONL data for plug and play meaning in English (4.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-04-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-04-01 using wiktextract (7de0cf9 and 9452535). 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.