idiom · informal
play the field
/pleɪ ðə fiːld/play·the·FIELD
speaking
to date several people casually rather than being in a committed relationship
Examples
“He decided to play the field instead of settling down after university.”
“Some people play the field to learn what they want in a partner.”
“She’s been playing the field, seeing different people casually.”
Band 8 sentence
“After a long-term relationship, she chose to play the field for a year to figure out what she wanted.”
Collocations
- play the field for a while
- play the field before settling down
Word family
play the field (phrasal idiom) idiomplayer (noun, informal) noun
Common mistakes
play field→play the field
play in the field→play the field
Say it for a higher band
5date many people→6date around→7+play the field
Synonyms
date around
Easily confused
date around
“He prefers to date around rather than commit.”
Related words
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In Relationships
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