: 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
David Phelan, Forbes, 19 Feb. 2025
The exhibit — spearheaded by Behind the Gallery — will arrive first in New York City, running at the Morrison Hotel Gallery Feb. 21 through 23, with an album playback event scheduled for Feb. 21 and Rach giving a talk on Feb. 22.
—Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 18 Feb. 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
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Noun
For comparison, the iPhone 16 manages 22 hours of video playback.
—David Phelan, Forbes, 19 Feb. 2025
The exhibit — spearheaded by Behind the Gallery — will arrive first in New York City, running at the Morrison Hotel Gallery Feb. 21 through 23, with an album playback event scheduled for Feb. 21 and Rach giving a talk on Feb. 22.
—Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 18 Feb. 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 9 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)
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