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View synonyms for

play up

verb

  1. (tr) to emphasize or highlight

    to play up one's best features

  2. informalto behave irritatingly (towards)

  3. informal(intr) (of a machine, car, etc) to function erratically

    the car is playing up again

  4. informalto hurt; give (one) pain or trouble

    my back's playing me up again

    1. to support (another actor) in a performance

    2. to try to gain favour with by flattery

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Idioms and Phrases

Emphasize or publicize, as in In the press interview, the coach played up the importance of having a strong defense. [c. 1900] Also see play down; play up to.
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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

The next episode we started writing toward those tweaks, finding the comic pauses she played up, never aiming straight toward a punchline, giving her an offbeat line or two, letting Carrie find the comedy.

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Often the long pass is played up to Rasmus Hojlund, who isn't the best at holding the ball up, resulting in a turnover.

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I am not sure who will play up front on Friday instead of Jackson, or who will get their goals, but I still fully expect Enzo Maresca's side to win.

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Israel has played up its connection with the Druze community in the region, presenting itself as their defender, even if many Syrian Druze themselves do not see it that way.

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I played up until my freshman year of high school.

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play to the galleryplay upon