How to Use at play in a Sentence

at play

idiom

• But that does not mean there was not a quid pro quo at play, too.
  — Rory Smith, New York Times, 10 Apr. 2024
• And so all of those things were at play in creating the band.
  — Lexy Perez, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 May 2024
• There are all these things at play that shape what music is.
  — Tommy Cummings, Dallas News, 3 Aug. 2023
• In this process, there is a hidden hand at play: magnetism.
  — Quanta Magazine, 1 July 2024
• This new study proposes that changes in both shape and speed are at play.
  — Sara Hashemi, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 Feb. 2025
• The bar includes a landscaped area for people to hang out with the dogs or just watch them at play.
  — Joseph Hernandez, Kansas City Star, 9 July 2024
• There may be, in fact, multiple pieces of new physics at play.
  — Quanta Magazine, 19 Jan. 2024
• And as the clock ticks toward the end of camp, there are several factors at play.
  — Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times, 14 Mar. 2023
• Like so many things in science, there are two effects at play here.
  — Phil Plait, Scientific American, 18 Oct. 2024
• And there are no federal, state or court mandates at play, so cut that list of 16 down to 11.
  — Andy Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune, 15 Sep. 2023
• There’s a certain rejection of ego at play with Hardy in these films.
  — Richard Newby, The Hollywood Reporter, 29 Oct. 2024
• Then came a 1973 incident in Poland, and that’s the one that really showed off the fungus at play.
  — Tim Newcomb, Popular Mechanics, 9 May 2023
• At the very least, a certain measure of moral relativism was at play this past week.
  — Dana Milbank, Washington Post, 14 June 2024
• If wind turbines aren’t to blame for their deaths, what other factors could be at play?
  — Brendan Rascius, Miami Herald, 16 Jan. 2025
• There are other legal issues and questions at play in the case.
  — Henry Gass, The Christian Science Monitor, 21 Apr. 2024
• The finale wrapped up the season’s plot nicely while leaving one huge wild card at play.
  — Erik Kain, Forbes, 9 Oct. 2024
• Your best bet is to stay grounded while embracing the inevitable changes that are at play.
  — Valerie Mesa, Peoplemag, 3 July 2024
• Levi Dittman’s mom, Gretchen Dittmann, is convinced that there was a higher power at play.
  — Frederick Dreier, Outside Online, 21 Feb. 2025
• Of course, there are other factors at play, such as provenance.
  — Oren Hartov, Robb Report, 22 Mar. 2024
• There’s a third matter at play here, too, in who gets to decide what is helpful to someone else.
  — Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 28 Jan. 2024
• With all of these factors at play, 42 million Americans are at odds on how to live a healthy life.
  — Ashley Tyrner, Fortune, 2 June 2023
• But another factor was at play: his strong support for the brand-new apartheid regime.
  — Joshua Benton, The Atlantic, 21 Sep. 2023
• And of course there’s a big strike right now, and these issues of streaming and compensation are very much at play.
  — Tomris Laffly, Harper's BAZAAR, 31 May 2023
• A couple of factors are at play in the rising rates revealed in the MBA's report Thursday.
  — Megan Cerullo, CBS News, 9 Aug. 2023
• The depth-sensing function of the cameras is the crucial element at play.
  — Popular Science, 10 Jan. 2024
• However, there is a bit of a tricky dynamic at play here.
  — Jess Craig, Vox, 16 Aug. 2024
• At the start of 1987, children at play found his corpse in a vacant lot, his face disfigured by splashes of acid.
  — Jason Farago, New York Times, 20 Dec. 2023
• Is this a question of side effects or are there other factors at play?
  — Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 9 July 2024
• Every retrograde has different rules, due to the signs and other planets at play.
  — Lisa Stardust, Vogue, 21 Mar. 2025
• What mechanisms are at play that allow deep-sea creatures to thrive in such a harsh environment?
  — Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Mar. 2025