Meanings
present singular third person plays for time · participle present playing for time · participle past played for time · past played for time
- idiomaticTo delay a situation until one is prepared.
Two cheers for that, at best. The original six party talks ran, or rather crawled, from 2003 to 2008. It remains unclear if North Korea was ever serious – or just playing for time while working on HEU.
29 February 2012, Aidan Foster-Carter, BBC News, “North Korea: The denuclearisation dance resumes”Synonyms: buy time
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo delay a situation until one is prepared.
Translations
Finnish pelata aikaa
- pelata aikaato delay until one is prepared
French jouer la montre
- jouer la montreto delay until one is prepared
German Zeit schinden
- Zeit schindento delay until one is prepared
Hungarian húzza az időt
- húzza az időtto delay until one is prepared
Russian тяну́ть вре́мя, выи́грывать вре́мя
- тяну́ть вре́мя (tjanútʹ vrémja)to delay until one is prepared
- выи́грывать вре́мя (vyígryvatʹ vrémja)to delay until one is prepared
Turkish vakit kazanmak, zaman kazanmak
- vakit kazanmakto delay until one is prepared
- zaman kazanmakto delay until one is prepared
- oyalamakto delay until one is prepared
Cite this entry
play for time. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/play%20for%20time
“play for time.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/play%20for%20time. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “play for time,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/play%20for%20time.
Source: play for time on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.