Byplay
noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Any action, carried out onstage during a performance, apart from the main action. countable, uncountable
"[...] there had been some amusing byplay with the enginemen as to what might be expected to happen if the engines failed to behave themselves properly."
- 2 incidental activity performed by an actor for dramatic effect wordnet
- 3 Any action, by supporting actor. countable, uncountable
Example
More examples"[...] there had been some amusing byplay with the enginemen as to what might be expected to happen if the engines failed to behave themselves properly."
Etymology
From by- + play.
More for "byplay"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.