Word.ws English Dictionary

play someone false

play someone false verb: to betray someone; to be disloyal to someone.

Verb

play someone false (third-person singular simple present plays someone false, present participle playing someone false, simple past and past participle played someone false)

  1. To betray someone; to be disloyal to someone.
    • And yet she was ensnaringly beautiful, despite her pride and self-consciousness; radiant and certain of conquest she stood before the man who alone seemed to have neither eye nor ear for charms that had never elsewhere played her false.1893, E. Werner, Clear the Track!, page 94

Synonyms of play someone false

14 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Forms of play someone false

third-person singular presentplays someone false
present participleplaying someone false
past participleplayed someone false
pastplayed someone false

Questions about play someone false

What does play someone false mean?
Play someone false means to betray someone; to be disloyal to someone.
What part of speech is play someone false?
Play someone false is a verb.
What is the past tense of play someone false?
The past tense of play someone false is played someone false.

Words near play someone false in the dictionary

  1. play second fiddle
  2. play silly beggars
  3. play silly buggers
  4. play small
  5. play someone at their own game
  6. play someone false
  7. play someone like a bass fiddle
  8. play someone like a fiddle
  9. play someone like a violin
  10. Play Station
  11. play stick

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: play someone false (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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