plays off

Verb

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

1. (often, transitive) To portray (something) (as unimportant); to dismiss or make light of (a factor in a situation, or one's embarrassment about it); to pretend not to be embarrassed, upset, impressed, or otherwise affected by (it).
   • After tripping, Sara tried to play her embarrassment off by laughing with everyone else.
2. (transitive) To set (other people) against one another: to induce competition between them, especially in a covert way so that they do not realize the degree to which they have been played (manipulated).
   • Stalin's propensity to play off his subordinates against one another is a well-studied theme.
3. (intransitive, transitive) To compete in a play-off; to compete against (an opponent) in a play-off.
4. (dated, transitive) To display; to show; to put in exercise.
   • to play off tricks