play at

phrasal verb

played at; playing at; plays at

: to do (something) in a way that is not serious

They were only playing at trying to fix the problem.

chiefly British : to play by pretending to be (someone or something)

She liked to play at doctors and nurses as a child.

—often used in the phrase play at being (something)

boys playing at being soldiers

British

—used to say in an annoyed way that one does not know the reason for someone's behavior

What is he playing at?

Examples of play at in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Conroy, similar to Pondexter, played at Washington in the 2000s while Cohen was a department employee, and Pondexter cited Conroy as a mentor in his previous bio at Washington. —

Luca Evans, Orange County Register, 16 May 2024 The Dream held on to earn a 92-81 win over the Sparks during the season opener played at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach. —

Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 16 May 2024 Mayo committed to play at KU through the transfer portal on April 2. —

Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 15 May 2024 There are conflicting reports about whether Miami will play at Seattle in Week 3 or 5. —

Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 15 May 2024 Yes, that’s the same number of shows that the mighty Taylor Swift played at the venue in 2023. —

Randy McMullen, The Mercury News, 15 May 2024 There are numerous viral videos of the song being played at sporting events and other public gatherings. —

Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 14 May 2024 Besides the business, Specht was an avid golfer, playing at at North Hills Country Club. —

Ricardo Torres, Journal Sentinel, 10 May 2024 Harvard-Westlake 7, Norco 2: The Wolverines broke open a 2-2 game and will play at Bonita on Tuesday. —

Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 4 May 2024

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