How to Use wordplay in a Sentence

wordplay

noun
  • Oscar Wilde was famous for his witty wordplay.
  • The world has changed, the couplets have changed, the vibes have changed and the wordplay has changed.
    Carl Lamarre, Billboard, 4 Apr. 2022
  • Our kids loved the wordplay and, of course, the foolish adults.
    Fabio Bertoni, The New Yorker, 13 May 2022
  • The MCs got in on it, speaking their own clever rhymes and wordplay over it.
    Deepti Hajela, Baltimore Sun, 11 Aug. 2023
  • There’s banter and wordplay left out of the band’s last movie that almost fits the spirit of their first.
    Chris Willman, Variety, 12 Oct. 2021
  • The songs, with their clever wordplay, are a nice addition.
    Los Angeles Times, 27 Sep. 2019
  • The hosts test Ellen and Mitch’s will to survive and to withstand twisted wordplay traps.
    Nina Sharma, The New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2023
  • And his forthrightness often came with a flash of wit or wordplay.
    Bruce Weber, New York Times, 16 Feb. 2023
  • The job is done predominantly for the love of wordplay by those with leisure time to spare; the pay is just a bonus.
    Matt Hartman, The New Republic, 5 Aug. 2022
  • Watson could parse the game’s clues and handle wordplay.
    Joshua Sokol, The Atlantic, 27 Feb. 2018
  • Provencher’s charm peeps through, but the whip-crack pacing of the clever retorts and wordplay is often lost in the reading.
    Matthew J. Palm, orlandosentinel.com, 20 Sep. 2021
  • But wordplay isn't play play, and so Mom hectors me to go see if Kevin Sundem is home.
    Steve Rushin, SI.com, 21 June 2017
  • The line could simply be read as a groan-inducing bit of wordplay.
    Andrew R. Chow, TIME, 31 May 2024
  • Slough House / slow horses: that’s just plain wordplay.
    Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, 28 Nov. 2022
  • Williams provides the beat on the track, stepping back to allow the two rappers to showcase their wordplay.
    Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 10 June 2022
  • There are no tricks, no fancy wordplay, no trucks and tailgates, no Daisy Dukes.
    Chuck Yarborough, cleveland, 13 Nov. 2019
  • With a tongue for wordplay and ear for beats drawn from hip-hop’s past, Ab-Soul is now focused on his own future.
    Chris Kelly, Washington Post, 21 June 2023
  • To describe a rapper as a lover of things like wordplay and turn-of-phrase might be redundant.
    Chris Varias, Cincinnati.com, 11 Nov. 2019
  • There are moments on the album when his wordplay slides off a little, and his attempts to sing fall flat.
    Mark Braboy, Rolling Stone, 7 Oct. 2022
  • The purple group often involves wordplay, so bear that in mind.
    Kris Holt, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2024
  • The purple group often involves wordplay, so bear that in mind.
    Kris Holt, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024
  • The geography, the trappers, and the wordplay all read like classic Fenn.
    Peter Frick-Wright, Outside Online, 11 Aug. 2015
  • Week 1403 does require more than simple wordplay on the title, a tack that works for many of our contests.
    Washington Post, 24 Sep. 2020
  • Part of DeLillo’s mordant jest of a book, and the fun of the wordplay, is that the adults are children, too — especially the niche academics.
    Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, 2 Sep. 2022
  • Their records overflowed with slipshod hooks and slurred wordplay.
    Jason Heller, The Atlantic, 8 Oct. 2019
  • Yet there was far more to Mr. James than sharp observation and clever wordplay.
    BostonGlobe.com, 29 Nov. 2019
  • Ruscha’s art is filled with witty and insightful wordplay and puns, and this one now clings to the little volume.
    Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, 23 Sep. 2023
  • Some thought Uber Eats was, for some reason, indulging in a wordplay around the dating app Tinder.
    Karthik Srinivasan, Quartz India, 25 Dec. 2019
  • This wordplay came naturally to my mother, a kind of jazz.
    Steve Silberman, Scientific American, 12 July 2023
  • Carpenter is not afraid of a gimmick, a little wordplay, or even some wink-y pandering to the audience.
    Alex Abad-Santos, Vox, 17 May 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'wordplay.' 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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