Word.ws English Dictionary

playing first fiddle

playing first fiddle is the present participle and gerund of play first fiddle.

Meaning of play first fiddle

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To play a leading role.

Questions about playing first fiddle

What is playing first fiddle the present participle and gerund of?
Playing first fiddle is the present participle and gerund of play first fiddle.

Words near playing first fiddle in the dictionary

  1. playing fast and loose
  2. playing favorites
  3. playing field
  4. playing fields
  5. playing fine
  6. playing first fiddle
  7. playing for love
  8. playing for time
  9. playing full
  10. playing games
  11. playing God

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: playing first fiddle (page history and authors); play first fiddle (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:

Cite this entry: “playing first fiddle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/playing_first_fiddle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.