plaything
Syllables: play·thing/ˈpleɪ.θɪŋ/
plaything noun: a thing or person intended for playing with.
Noun
plaything (plural playthings)
- A thing or person intended for playing with.
- [S]he haſtily retired, taking with her her little Girl, whoſe Eyes were all over blubbered at the melancholy News ſhe heard of Jones, who uſed to call her his little Wife, and not only gave her many Playthings, but ſpent whole Hours in playing with her himſelf.1749, Henry Fielding, “The generous and grateful Behaviour of Mrs. Miller”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume VI, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book XVII, page 97
- 1856: Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, Part III Chapter XI, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling
The next day Charles had the child brought back. She asked for her mamma. They told her she was away; that she would bring her back some playthings.
- Synonyms:
- toy
- A person at the mercy of fate.
- We talk of our energies and of our will—we are the mere playthings of subtle and malignant chances.1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXVIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 297
Adjective
plaything (not comparable)
- Used for the purpose of play or amusement.
- Like the cards which form a child's plaything palace, our pleasures are nicely balanced one upon the other.1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter II, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 17
plaything meaning in Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam
plaything in Tamil
- விளையாட்டுச் சாமான்
plaything in Urdu
- کھلونا
plaything in Malayalam
- കളിപ്പാവ, വിളയാട്ടുപണ്ടം, കളിപ്പാട്ടം
Synonyms of plaything
Forms of plaything
| plural | playthings |
|---|
Origin of plaything
From play + thing.
Questions about plaything
- What does plaything mean?
- Plaything means a thing or person intended for playing with.
- What is plaything in Tamil?
- Plaything in Tamil is விளையாட்டுச் சாமான். See Plaything meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is plaything?
- Plaything can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce plaything?
- Plaything is pronounced /ˈpleɪ.θɪŋ/.
- What is the plural of plaything?
- The plural of plaything is playthings.
Words near plaything in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: plaything (page history and authors); plaything (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); plaything (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); plaything (Malayalam Wiktionary) (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-plaything.wav.
Cite this entry: “plaything.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/plaything. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.