VERB
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set into opposition or rivalry
He plays his two children off against each other
pit a chess player against the Russian champion
let them match their best athletes against ours
How To Use play off In A Sentence
- In some respects, teams are almost penalized for converting first downs in the two-minute drill because it just takes that much longer to get the next play off.
- The two genres don't play off each other or give each other a fresh spin; they awkwardly coincide and never truly cross-fertilize. Michael Giltz: Cannes 2010 Day Four and Five: Mike Leigh's New Gem and Inside Job Rocks The Fest
- Whenever the opportunity presented itself, she did her level best to play off one faction against another, so as to reap from the resultant feud whatever benefit she could. The Fight for Democracy in China
- Obviously we have to be balanced but the philosophy is to play offensive football. The Sun
- The driver and a teed-up 3-wood are the only clubs you want to play off your left heel. THE LAST GENIE
- Critics would also hope she seriously thinks about the wounds she will be reopening - and calls the play off.
- Every so often I notice a fireworks display off in the distance; sometimes near the East River, sometimes near the Brooklyn beaches.
- I was pushing up trying to play offside. The Sun
- The two equal winners had to play off an additional game to decide the winner of the whole competition.
- Henceforth, my friend," said he, "moderate your zeal in hurrying others to the gallows; be not too certain of your own safety, even though you should have the law on your side; and, above all, take care how you play off your schoolcraft another time upon an old soldier. Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 7
