“play someone or something off against”

We have one entry that includes the term play someone or something off against.

play (someone or something) off against (someone or something)

idiom

: to cause two people or groups to fight or compete with (each other) in a way that helps oneself

See the full definition

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of untoward

See Definitions and Examples »

Test Your Vocabulary

Face Your Fears

  • clown-mask
  • Arachnophobia is the fear of what multi-legged creatures?
True or False

Test your knowledge - and maybe learn something along the way.

TAKE THE QUIZ
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.

Pick the best words!

PLAY
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Word Game Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
burrowing owl athene cunicularia tilts its head outside its burrow on marco island florida
Guess the Curious Origins of These Everyday Words Oh, that’s where that comes from…
See All