play off

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play off

verb plays off · playing off · played off

often, transitive, with as To portray (something) (as unimportant); to dismiss or make light of (a factor in a situation, or one's embarrassment about it); to pretend not to be embarrassed, upset, impressed, or otherwise affected by (it). After tripping, Sara tried to play her embarrassment off by laughing with everyone else.
transitive To set (other people) against one another: to induce competition between them, especially in a covert way so that they do not realize the degree to which they have been played (manipulated). Stalin's propensity to play off his subordinates against one another is a well-studied theme.
intransitive, transitive To compete in a play-off; to compete against (an opponent) in a play-off.
dated, transitive To display; to show; to put in exercise. to play off tricks

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MLA

"play off." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/play%20off. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

play off. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/play%20off

Chicago

"play off." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/play%20off.

BibTeX

@misc{play_off_2026,
  title = {play off},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/play%20off},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}