: one that plays: such as
a
: a person who plays a game
a baseball player
a chess player
She's one of the team's best players.
b
: a person who plays a musical instrument
a piano player
c
: actor
… what drew these audiences was the emergence of the movie star from the ranks of the wholly anonymous players of a decade earlier.—
David Nasaw
David Nasaw
d
: a device that reproduces recorded material (such as video images or music) from a usually specified medium
a CD player
e
: one actively involved especially in a competitive field or process : participant
a key player in politics
f
or less commonly playa US slang
: a person and especially a man who has many lovers
Handsome and a well-paid professional, Keith, 35, chose to be a player, juggling a series of relatively brief and sometimes over-lapping intimate relationships with women.—Michel Marriott
Michel MarriottThis album has a lot of sexual references. It's almost like Bobby's … a playa.—Elliott Wilson
Elliott WilsonNote: The variant playa is more common in transcribed speech.
Examples of player in a Sentence
She's one of the team's best players.
The band's lead guitar player hurt his hand and couldn't play.
Piano players are called pianists.
Recent Examples on the Web
Andrew Wiggins and Davion Mitchell, who arrived in the trade, are good players but not No. 1s.
—Greg Cote, Miami Herald, 21 Apr. 2025
The team fired head coach Jerod Mayo after just one season and brought in former player Mike Vrabel to be the next head man.
—Nicholas Creel, MSNBC Newsweek, 20 Apr. 2025
Six of these players played in the Stanley Cup Final in the bubble, right?
—Arpon Basu, New York Times, 20 Apr. 2025
Eight teams comprised of eight players each played a 12-game tournament over four days.
—Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 20 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for player
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
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Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
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Greg Cote, Miami Herald, 21 Apr. 2025
The team fired head coach Jerod Mayo after just one season and brought in former player Mike Vrabel to be the next head man.
—Nicholas Creel, MSNBC Newsweek, 20 Apr. 2025
Six of these players played in the Stanley Cup Final in the bubble, right?
—Arpon Basu, New York Times, 20 Apr. 2025
Eight teams comprised of eight players each played a 12-game tournament over four days.
—Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 20 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for player
Cite this Entry
“Player.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/player. Accessed 23 Apr. 2025.
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