play at

phrasal verb

played at; playing at; plays at

: to do (something) in a way that is not serious

They were only playing at trying to fix the problem.

chiefly British : to play by pretending to be (someone or something)

She liked to play at doctors and nurses as a child.

—often used in the phrase play at being (something)

boys playing at being soldiers

British

—used to say in an annoyed way that one does not know the reason for someone's behavior

What is he playing at?

Examples of play at in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

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Coming off a tight 27-25 win over the Ravens, the Bills will continue to play at a high level on both sides of the ball. —

Gordon G. Chang, Newsweek, 25 Jan. 2025 Barrett, 30, who played at Ohio State, was the assistant quarterbacks coach for the Lions the last two seasons. —

Brad Biggs, Chicago Tribune, 25 Jan. 2025 The Vaqueros play at Grossmont on Feb. 14 in the teams’ regular-season finale. —

John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Jan. 2025 Palisades, whose sports facilities are not available because of damage suffered to the campus, will be playing at St. Francis on Sunday in a basketball game. —

Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 24 Jan. 2025 See all Example Sentences for play at