English Words: P

46,516 words · Page 446 of 931

play someone falseverb

To betray someone; to be disloyal to someone.

play the advantageverb

To allow play to continue, that the referee doesn't whistle for a foul, despite the attacking team being fouled, because they are in an advantageous position.

play the anglesverb

To seek ways to advance one's self-interest, especially by making choices in a calculating or crafty manner; to scheme.

play the ball and not the manverb

To attack the ball instead of an opponent who is usually controlling the ball. Often considered a positive action, and sometimes a requirement not to concede a penalty.

play the cat and banjo withverb

Synonym of play the devil with.

play the clitarverb

To masturbate by stimulating one's clitoris.

play the devil withverb

To cause great trouble or distress to.

play the fieldverb

To cut one's losses by betting on every racehorse other than the crowd favorite.

play the foolverb

To behave in a foolish or comical manner.

play the gameverb

To behave fairly; to abide by the rules.

play the gender cardverb

To assert that sexism is involved in a situation, especially in order to exploit sexist or antisexist attitudes.

play the hand one is dealtverb

To use the resources which one actually has available; to operate realistically, within the limits of one's circumstances.

play the man and not the ballverb

To attack an opponent instead of attacking the ball, which is usually being controlled by the attacked player at the time.

play the race cardverb

To assert that race or racism is involved in a situation, especially in order to exploit racist or antiracist attitudes.

play the same tapeverb

To repeat exactly what one previously said or did.

play the victim cardverb

To portray oneself as an innocent victim instead of taking responsibility.

play the wagverb

To play truant (be absent from school without permission).

play toverb

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see play, to.

play to winverb

To play in an especially competitive, committed manner, focused intently on winning.

play tricksverb

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see play, tricks.

play truantverb

To be absent from school without permission.

play upverb

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see play, up.

play up Old Gooseberryverb

Alternative form of play Old Gooseberry.

play well with othersverb

To habitually demonstrate interpersonal skills by engaging agreeably in social or work activities.

play withverb

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: play with.

play with a full deckverb

To behave in a manner suggesting that one is of normal intelligence, alert, and mentally stable.

play with fireverb

To put oneself in a precarious situation with a high risk of getting harmed, particularly emotionally or financially.

play with house moneyverb

To be in a situation where little or no personal risk can be incurred.

play-actverb

To perform on stage; to act in a play.

play-actingnoun

The acting of a play or plays; the occupation of an actor; dramatic performance.

play-actornoun

An actor who performs on stage, especially one who is part of an acting troupe.

play-by-emailadj

Describing a game that can be played in a turn-based fashion through email.

play-by-mailadj

Describing a game that can be played in a turn-based fashion through postal mail or email.

play-by-playadj

Describing a sports commentary in which a commentator describes every action in some detail as it occurs, often assisted by a second commentator who provides background information and other comments.

play-by-snail-mailadj

Describing a game that can be played in a turn-based fashion through postal mail.

play-callingnoun

Alternative form of playcalling.

play-dohnoun

Alternative form of playdough.

play-offnoun

Alternative spelling of playoff.

play-playverb

To mess around, to play around; to take things lightly.

play-writingnoun

Alternative form of playwriting.

playanoun

A level area which habitually fills with water that evaporates entirely.

playa lakenoun

A temporary lake formed after rainfall in a playa.

playabilitynoun

The state or property of being playable.

playableadj

Able to be played.

playactornoun

Alternative form of play-actor.

playaholicnoun

Any person who builds their life schedule around recreational activities, sports, or other types of play.

playalikeadj

Resembling or characteristic of a playa (geological feature).

Playalinda Beachname

A beach in Brevard County, near Titusville Florida, United States.

playaroundnoun

An instance of working in a nonserious manner; an instance of playing around.

playathonnoun

An extended period of playing.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English alphabetical index for the letter P contains 46,516 headwords drawn from our Wiktionary-derived dictionary table. At 50 entries per page the browse splits into 931 pages, and you are currently viewing page 446. Every row above is a dictionary-backed entry with a canonical slug, and each links through to a full definition page with pronunciation, senses, etymology, and related-word data where available.

On this page 50 of 50 entries carry a part-of-speech tag and 50 carry at least one stored definition. Coverage varies across letters because Wiktionary volunteers build entries at different speeds for different parts of the alphabet, letters with common starting sounds (S, C, T, P) usually have the densest coverage, while less frequent starters (X, Q, Z) tend to have shorter but more specialised lists. PlainSpell surfaces whatever data is present and links back to the source when a definition is not yet recorded.

For readers using this index as a spelling reference, the guarantee is that every form you see on the list is a documented English headword, not a guess, not a derived inflection lacking a lemma row. If a word you expected to find is absent from the "P" list, it usually means the form exists only as an inflection of another lemma (e.g. a past participle stored under the infinitive) or the entry has not yet been imported from Wiktionary. Use the search bar or the misspelling lookup to resolve these cases.