Word.ws English Dictionary

play the pronoun game

play the pronoun game verb: to avoid the use of pronouns for one's partner or lover, so as to conceal one's sexual orientation.

Verb

play the pronoun game (third-person singular simple present plays the pronoun game, present participle playing the pronoun game, simple past and past participle played the pronoun game)

  1. (humorous, informal) To avoid the use of pronouns for one's partner or lover, so as to conceal one's sexual orientation.

Forms of play the pronoun game

third-person singular presentplays the pronoun game
present participleplaying the pronoun game
past participleplayed the pronoun game
pastplayed the pronoun game

Questions about play the pronoun game

What does play the pronoun game mean?
Play the pronoun game means to avoid the use of pronouns for one's partner or lover, so as to conceal one's sexual orientation.
What part of speech is play the pronoun game?
Play the pronoun game is a verb.
What is the past tense of play the pronoun game?
The past tense of play the pronoun game is played the pronoun game.

Words near play the pronoun game in the dictionary

  1. play the man, not the ball
  2. play the mischief with
  3. play the Nazi card
  4. play the odds
  5. play the ponies
  6. play the pronoun game
  7. play the race card
  8. play the same tape
  9. play the skin flute
  10. play the something card
  11. play the system

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: play the pronoun game (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-play the pronoun game.wav.

Cite this entry: “play the pronoun game.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/play_the_pronoun_game. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.