play off

See also: playoff and play-off

English

Verb

play off (third-person singular simple present plays off, present participle playing off, simple past and past participle played off)

1. (transitive, often 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).

   Coordinate terms: laugh away, laugh off, style it out

   After tripping, Sara tried to play her embarrassment off by laughing with everyone else.

   Although he's obviously hung over, he's trying to play it off as food poisoning.

2. (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.

3. (sports, intransitive, transitive) To compete in a play-off; to compete against (an opponent) in a play-off.
4. (dated, transitive) To display; to show; to put in exercise.

   to play off tricks

Derived terms

• play-off (noun)
• playoff (noun)