Dictionary

player

see also: Player

Etymology

From Middle English pleyer, playere, from Old English pleġere, equivalent to .

Pronunciation

(America) IPA: /ˈpleɪɚ/
(RP) IPA: /ˈpleɪə(ɹ)/

Noun

player (plural players)

One that plays
1. One who plays any game or sport.
  Synonyms: laker
2. (theater) An actor in a dramatic play.
  - c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene vii], page 194 ↗, column 1:
    All the world's a ſtage, / And all the men and women, merely Players
3. (music) One who plays on a musical instrument.
4. (gaming, video games) A gamer; a player of video games or similar.
5. (gambling) A gambler.
6. (historical) A mechanism that actuates a player piano or other automatic musical instrument.
7. (electronics) An electronic device that plays audio and/or video media.
  Is your CD player broken, or is this one disc damaged?
8. (computing) A software application that plays audio and/or video media, such as a media player.
One who is playful; one without serious aims; an idler; a trifler.
A participant; one involved in something.
He thought he could become a player, at least at the state level.
- 2011, Suzanne Shale, Moral Leadership in Medicine, page 239:
  Decision realities research recognizes the occupational tribalism identified in occupational realities research, but goes further by paying attention to all the players – patients and lay caregivers included – who participate in negotiating care.
1. One who participates in a particular type of sexual play.
(informal) A person who plays the field rather than having a long-term sexual relationship.
Synonyms: Thesaurus:libertine