Word.ws English Dictionary

playing small

playing small is the present participle and gerund of play small.

Meaning of play small

Verb

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

  1. (figuratively) To play for low stakes; to aim low; to be unwilling to take risks; to be fearful.
    • Near-synonym: play it safe
    Synonyms:
    play it safe
    Antonyms:
    play big

Questions about playing small

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

Words near playing small in the dictionary

  1. playing politics
  2. playing possum
  3. playing pussy
  4. playing second fiddle
  5. playing silly buggers
  6. playing small
  7. playing someone at their own game
  8. playing someone like a bass fiddle
  9. playing someone like a fiddle
  10. playing someone like a violin
  11. playing stupid

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: playing small (page history and authors); play small (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: “playing small.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/playing_small. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.