play around

idiom

1

: to have sex with someone who is not one's husband, wife, or regular partner

He's not the kind of guy who plays around.

—often + on

She's been playing around on her husband.

—often + with

She's been playing around with one of her coworkers.

2

: to deal with or treat something in a careless way

When it comes to protecting his family, he doesn't play around.

—often + with

You can't play around with diabetes; it's a very serious disease.

3

: to use or do something in a way that is not very serious

It's time to stop playing around and get busy.

—often + on

I spent the evening playing around on the piano/computer/Internet.

—often + with

I'm not really a painter; I just like to play around with paints.

4

: to move or change something or to think about something in different ways often in order to find out what would work best

—+ with

I see you've been playing around with the living room furniture again.

The supervisor played around with our work schedules this week.

We played around with the idea for a while but eventually realized that it just wouldn't work.

Examples of play around in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

These end-of-year parties are a chance to play around with seasonal colors and dazzling fabrics, which can then be worn during the holidays. —Victoria Montalti, refinery29.com, 24 Oct. 2024

And if bare legs and ankle boots still feel too exposed for you, play around with the styling. —Franziska Fuchs, Glamour, 22 Oct. 2024

That means teams are more likely to be empowered to play around building a specialist content writer or feedback analyser AI assistant themselves, says Hubert. —Morgan Meaker, WIRED, 14 Oct. 2024

For Joaquin Phoenix and director Todd Phillips, the character was the chance to play around with decades of comic-book mythology and turn him into God’s Lonely Bozo — an amalgamation of antiheroes that carbon-date back to the Carter era. —David Fear, Rolling Stone, 3 Oct. 2024