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 The Play That Goes Wrong, played at the New World Stages, is described as a combination of Monty Python and Sherlock Holmes. —

Charna Flam, Peoplemag, 13 Sep. 2024 The Guardians play at 7:10pm at Progressive Field and Nicki Minaj takes the stage at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse at 9pm. —

Troy Smith, Axios, 12 Sep. 2024 Arizona State plays at Texas State tonight, and the game is interesting enough without side narratives. —

Matthew Self, The Arizona Republic, 12 Sep. 2024 South plays at six hearts again, and West leads the queen of clubs. —

Frank Stewart, The Mercury News, 12 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for play at

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