: an act or instance of reproducing recorded sound or pictures often immediately after recording
played back; playing back; plays back
: to perform a playback of (a usually recently recorded disc or tape)
Examples of playback in a Sentence
Noun
The band listened to a playback of their first recording.
Recent Examples on the Web
J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 8 Mar. 2025
As such, gauging the metrics is a fairly nebulous goal, but Lenovo estimates that 20 minutes of direct sunlight will translate to roughly one hour of video playback.
—Matthew Buzzi, PCMAG, 2 Mar. 2025
Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 1 Mar. 2025
The late-night host slammed Democratic leaders for trying to spin media interviews, playing back footage of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Rep. Dan Goldman, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal.
—Charisma Madarang, Rolling Stone, 19 Nov. 2024
See All Example Sentences for playback
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Noun
The digital world could then be composited, rendered and viewed on set via playback.
—J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 8 Mar. 2025
As such, gauging the metrics is a fairly nebulous goal, but Lenovo estimates that 20 minutes of direct sunlight will translate to roughly one hour of video playback.
—Matthew Buzzi, PCMAG, 2 Mar. 2025
Verb
The Southern Section Open Division championships in boys’ and girls’ basketball will be played back to back on Saturday at Toyota Arena in Ontario with matchups that should be pleasing for fans.
—Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 1 Mar. 2025
The late-night host slammed Democratic leaders for trying to spin media interviews, playing back footage of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Rep. Dan Goldman, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal.
—Charisma Madarang, Rolling Stone, 19 Nov. 2024
See All Example Sentences for playback
Cite this Entry
“Playback.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/playback. Accessed 12 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
playback
1 of 2 noun
play·back
ˈplā-ˌbak 
: the action of reproducing recorded sound or pictures often immediately after recording
play back
2 of 2 verb(ˈ)plā-ˈbak
: to perform a playback of (a disc or tape)
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share