Basic+ Word of the Day: play

play (verb, noun) past tense: played

Children playing

If someone is playing, it means that they are doing something for fun.

• The children are playing with their toys.

If you play a game or a sport, it means that you participate in it.

• Do you want to play tennis with me?

If you play a musical instrument, it means that you know how to use it.

• She plays the piano.

If you play something (for example a song or a movie), it means that you put it on, so that you can watch it or listen to it.

• I don’t listen to the radio because they always play the same songs.

If an actor plays someone, it means that they are that person in a movie.

• Johnny Depp played Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean.

A play is something that you can go to see at the theater.

• Hamlet is a play by William Shakespeare.

In pop culture

Romeo and Juliet is a play by William Shakespeare. It’s about two young people who are in love, but their families are enemies. In 1996, they made a movie of the play (Romeo + Juliet). In the movie, the people wear modern clothes, but they speak with the same words from the play. In this video from the movie, Romeo and Juliet see each other for the first time. Do you think they’re in love already?

There are other meanings of play.