The word ‘play’ can mean many different things. As a verb, the meaning is to do a sport or activity for fun.
For example:
- I love playing badminton. (do a sport)
- Libby is playing with her dolly. (do an activity)
Play is a regular verb. The past tense and past participle is played.
phrasal verbs with play
Phrasal verbs with ‘play’ include:
- Play about/around (be silly)
- Play along (agree with)
- Play away (cheat)
- Play back (watch/listen to something you recorded)
- Play down (make something seem less important)
- Play on (continue playing)
- Play out (see what happens)
- Play up (misbehave)
- Play with (use objects for fun)

Let’s learn the meaning of the phrasal verbs that contain the verb ‘play’ in more detail and see some examples in use.
idioms with verbs – PLAY
Did you know that many idiomatic expressions (idioms) in English also contain a lot of verbs? Just like phrasal verbs, idioms are a major part of the English language (slang in particular). They are used constantly amongst native English speakers and are handy to know and understand.
Now you’ve learnt all the phrasal verbs with play, how about learning the idioms with play too?