How to Use at play in a Sentence

at play

idiom
  • However, there is a bit of a tricky dynamic at play here.
    Jess Craig, Vox, 16 Aug. 2024
  • Is there anything else at play — like, does your boyfriend feel indebted to his parents?
    Sahaj Kaur Kohli, Washington Post, 16 Feb. 2023
  • Packing-wise, there are competing instincts at play here.
    Toby Skinner, Condé Nast Traveler, 13 Aug. 2024
  • But an animal at play is far more likely to innovate – and some of its innovations may, in time, be adapted into new ways to forage and hunt.
    David Toomey, Discover Magazine, 16 Aug. 2024
  • Moreover, the cartoonists ignored the power dynamic at play—the fact that, supposedly, the illustrators with their pens held all the power, while the terrorists with their guns held none.
    Russell Jacoby, Harper’s Magazine , 16 Feb. 2023
  • Falk also opens up about the larger themes at play in the retro-futuristic comedy and the issues that are front and center as the Writers Guild prepares to hammer down a new deal with the studios.
    Lesley Goldberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Feb. 2023
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • There are other legal issues and questions at play in the case.
    Henry Gass, The Christian Science Monitor, 21 Apr. 2024
  • Your best bet is to stay grounded while embracing the inevitable changes that are at play.
    Valerie Mesa, Peoplemag, 3 July 2024
  • 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
  • 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
  • His father blames a strange family in the neighboring house, but of course far more is at play.
    Nick Vivarelli, Variety, 9 Feb. 2024
  • And to be fair, there is some seasonality at play here.
    Tony Maglio, IndieWire, 23 July 2024
  • Here’s a closer look at the school board’s decision and what’s at play moving forward.
    Jackie Valley, The Christian Science Monitor, 22 June 2023

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

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