Word.ws English Dictionary

plays small

plays small is the third-person singular simple present indicative 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 plays small

What is plays small the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Plays small is the third-person singular simple present indicative of play small.

Words near plays small in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: plays 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: “plays small.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/plays_small. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.