Rate this phrase:0.0 / 0 votes

play it straight

To behave in a manner that is straightforward, honest, or sincere.
14 Views
“

"The position you'd put me in would be this—of playing a game—and a jolly important game at that—in which the loser loses to me on purpose. . . . If we're going to play a game," he continued, addressing Davenant, before the latter had time to speak, "for Heaven's sake let us play it straight—like men. Let the winner win and the loser lose—"

Collection   Edit    

Submitted on July 10, 2018

Additional definitions for 'play it straight':

play it straightTo perform a role in a manner that is not comedic or exaggerated.
play it straightTo avoid criminal behavior.
See them all »

Translation

Find a translation for the play it straight phrase in other languages:

Select another language:

  • - Select -
  • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
  • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Esperanto (Esperanto)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Português (Portuguese)
  • Deutsch (German)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Русский (Russian)
  • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
  • 한국어 (Korean)
  • עברית (Hebrew)
  • Gaeilge (Irish)
  • Українська (Ukrainian)
  • اردو (Urdu)
  • Magyar (Hungarian)
  • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
  • Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • தமிழ் (Tamil)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • తెలుగు (Telugu)
  • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
  • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
  • Čeština (Czech)
  • Polski (Polish)
  • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Românește (Romanian)
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • Ελληνικά (Greek)
  • Latinum (Latin)
  • Svenska (Swedish)
  • Dansk (Danish)
  • Suomi (Finnish)
  • فارسی (Persian)
  • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
  • հայերեն (Armenian)
  • Norsk (Norwegian)
  • English (English)

Nearby phrases

Some more phrases from our dictionary similar to play it straight

play offplay it by earplay hob withplay old harryplay outplay hardballplay it by earplay it safeplay hookeyplay gooseberryplay Old Gooseberryplay one's cards rightplay onplay one against another

How to pronounce this phrase?

Discuss this play it straight phrase with the community:

0 Comments

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this play it straight definition to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "play it straight." Phrases.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 Dec. 2024. <https://www.phrases.com/phrase/play-it-straight_26290>.

    Powered by CITE.ME Cite.Me

    We need you!

    Help us build the largest human-edited phrases collection on the web!

    Quiz

    Are you a phrases master?

    »
    _______ out a living.
    A make
    B fake
    C eke
    D break

    Browse Phrases.com

    #ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ