player

noun

play·​er ˈplā-ər How to pronounce player (audio)
: one that plays: such as
a
: a person who plays a game
a baseball player
a chess player
She's one of the team's best players.
b
: a person who plays a musical instrument
a piano player
c
: actor
… what drew these audiences was the emergence of the movie star from the ranks of the wholly anonymous players of a decade earlier.David Nasaw
d
: a device that reproduces recorded material (such as video images or music) from a usually specified medium
a CD player
e
: one actively involved especially in a competitive field or process : participant
a key player in politics
f
or less commonly playa US slang : a person and especially a man who has many lovers
Handsome and a well-paid professional, Keith, 35, chose to be a player, juggling a series of relatively brief and sometimes over-lapping intimate relationships with women.Michel Marriott
This album has a lot of sexual references. It's almost like Bobby's … a playa.Elliott Wilson

Note: The variant playa is more common in transcribed speech.

Examples of player in a Sentence

She's one of the team's best players. The band's lead guitar player hurt his hand and couldn't play. Piano players are called pianists.
Recent Examples on the Web Second-highest three-point percentage (43.5%) among bench players with a minimum of two three-point attempts per game and seventh in the NBA. Broderick Turner, Los Angeles Times, 19 Mar. 2024 Trespasser is set in an open world, allowing players to explore simulated environments with greater freedoms of movement and choice than are typical in more scripted or linear games. Patrick House, The New Yorker, 19 Mar. 2024 Football players had cortical thinning and changes in brain folding as well as lower brain signaling and coherence in frontal and medial parts of the brain, but increased signaling and coherence in the occipital lobe. Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Mar. 2024 The players taking part are Davante Adams of the Las Vegas Raiders, Justin Jefferson of the Minnesota Vikings, George Kittle — the aforementioned tight end — and Deebo Samuel of the San Francisco 49ers and Amon-Ra St. Brown of the Detroit Lions. Rick Porter, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Mar. 2024 Around the world, players are grappling to deal with the impact of head injuries sustained during their rugby careers. Issy Ronald, CNN, 19 Mar. 2024 There are currently 57 electric vehicle models on sale in the U.S., and while Tesla is still the most popular, new players in the electric car market are driving competition and prices keep dropping. Bradley Brownell / Jalopnik, Quartz, 18 Mar. 2024 But his focus is not just to make the Irish company a mammoth-sized player in the airline market. Prarthana Prakash, Fortune Europe, 18 Mar. 2024 Back when the Broughs were at UCLA, a big opponent like Arizona might require them to camp out for up to four days while waiting for the games, the players, the memories. Ben Bolch, Los Angeles Times, 7 Mar. 2024

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

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of player was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near player

Cite this Entry

“Player.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/player. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

player

noun
play·​er ˈplā-ər How to pronounce player (audio)
1
a
: a person who plays a game
b
c
: actor
2
: a device for playing recorded material (as music)
an MP3 player

More from Merriam-Webster on player

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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