play around

idiom

1

: to have sex with someone who is not one's husband, wife, or regular partner

He's not the kind of guy who plays around.

—often + on

She's been playing around on her husband.

—often + with

She's been playing around with one of her coworkers.

2

: to deal with or treat something in a careless way

When it comes to protecting his family, he doesn't play around.

—often + with

You can't play around with diabetes; it's a very serious disease.

3

: to use or do something in a way that is not very serious

It's time to stop playing around and get busy.

—often + on

I spent the evening playing around on the piano/computer/Internet.

—often + with

I'm not really a painter; I just like to play around with paints.

4

: to move or change something or to think about something in different ways often in order to find out what would work best

—+ with

I see you've been playing around with the living room furniture again.

The supervisor played around with our work schedules this week.

We played around with the idea for a while but eventually realized that it just wouldn't work.

Examples of play around in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Also, who doesn’t want to see Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara play around together again? —Savannah Salazar, Vulture, 6 Dec. 2024

Though they were encouraged to play around and improvise, Menzel says that nod to her original performance was scripted by Schwartz. —Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 25 Nov. 2024

The Clippers understood Leonard would be out and built their style of play around Harden and an elevated defense coordinated by assistant Jeff Van Gundy. —Law Murray, The Athletic, 24 Nov. 2024

This, along with all the new movement mechanics, magical powers and a brand new map should give Fortnite players a ton to play around with as December kicks off. —Erik Kain, Forbes, 1 Dec. 2024