Word.ws English Dictionary

playing someone like a violin

playing someone like a violin is the present participle and gerund of play someone like a violin.

Meaning of play someone like a violin

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic) To control or manipulate someone, especially by playing on their emotions.

Questions about playing someone like a violin

What is playing someone like a violin the present participle and gerund of?
Playing someone like a violin is the present participle and gerund of play someone like a violin.

Words near playing someone like a violin in the dictionary

  1. playing silly buggers
  2. playing small
  3. playing someone at their own game
  4. playing someone like a bass fiddle
  5. playing someone like a fiddle
  6. playing someone like a violin
  7. playing stupid
  8. playing the angles
  9. playing the ball
  10. playing the ball and not the man
  11. playing the ball not the man

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: playing someone like a violin (page history and authors); play someone like a violin (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 someone like a violin.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/playing_someone_like_a_violin. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.