play tricks
play tricks verb: used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see play, tricks.
Verb
play tricks (third-person singular simple present plays tricks, present participle playing tricks, simple past and past participle played tricks)
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see play, tricks.
- The neighbour's children keep playing tricks on each other.
- "[…] On the 18th of October, 1841, a very intense magnetic disturbance was recorded, and amongst other curious facts mentioned is that of the detention of the 10:05pm express train at Exeter for 16 minutes, as from the magnetic disturbance affecting the needles so powerfully, it was impossible to...2023 November 15, Prof. Jim Wild, “This train was delayed because of bad weather in space”, in RAIL, number 996, page 30
- Of one's eyes, mind, etc.: to deceive or mislead one.
- Is that man naked, or are my eyes playing tricks on me?
- Sometimes I give myself the creeps / Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me1994, Green Day, “Basket Case”, in Dookie
Forms of play tricks
| third-person singular present | plays tricks |
|---|---|
| present participle | playing tricks |
| past participle | played tricks |
| past | played tricks |
Questions about play tricks
- What does play tricks mean?
- Play tricks means used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see play, tricks.
- What part of speech is play tricks?
- Play tricks is a verb.
- What is the past tense of play tricks?
- The past tense of play tricks is played tricks.
Words near play tricks in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: play tricks (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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Cite this entry: “play tricks.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/play_tricks. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.