if an event or situation is played out in a particular way, it happens in that way
if you play out a situation, you pretend that it is really happening
to continue to play a sport until the end of a particular period
to develop or end in a particular way
Children often play out quite violent scenes.
His career as a writer was played out against a background of alcoholism.
She had come this far, she decided, so she might as well play out the drama to the end.
She played out the rest of her career in America.
She was moving at her old, leisurely pace, as though they had all the time in the world to play out the last reel of this tragedy.
There are only so many times you can play out the old flesh games without losing interest in them.
They disagreed violently, and no one knew how the situation would play out.
We may as well play out this hand while we're waiting for him,' the voice said.
plays out
playing out
played out
There is no origin for this phrasal verb
Was this page helpful?