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play along

verb

  1. intrusually foll bywith to cooperate (with), esp as a temporary measure
  2. tr to manipulate as if in a game, esp for one's own advantage

    he played the widow along until she gave him her money

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Idioms and Phrases

Cooperate or pretend to cooperate, as in They decided to play along with the robbers, at least for a while . [ Colloquial ; 1920s]
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Example Sentences

The reward for playing along and the reward for resistance are the same.

From Salon

Entire TikTok, YouTube and Instagram accounts thrive on recording the opinions and reactions of random people willing to play along with whatever their brand represents.

From Salon

It was difficult enough for Trump to convince enough people to play along in 2020 — when he was in the White House and before those folks knew that going to prison was a real possibility.

From Salon

At least as seen in the surviving clips of the original episode, the real Cheryl appears to lean into the show’s conventions, flirtatiously playing along with the game.

The former president swayed, stared, paced, bobbed and punched the air while South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who was meant to be moderating the Q&A session, tried to play along.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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play agentplay a losing game