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Definition of "playground" []

  • An outdoor area set aside for recreation and play, especially one containing equipment such as seesaws and swings. (noun)
  • A field or sphere of unrestricted pleasurable activity: "Foreign affairs had been T.R.'s personal playground during his Presidency” ( John Dos Passos). (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "playground" in a sentence
  • "To get the playground on the roof of the school house recognized as the _public playground_ seemed a long step toward turning it into a general neighborhood evening resort, that should be always open, and so towards bringing school and people, and especially the school and the boy, together in a bond of mutual sympathy good for them both."
  • "When I think of the old Allen Street school, with its hard and ugly lines, where the gas had to be kept burning even on the brightest days, recitations suspended every half-hour, and the children made to practice calisthenics so that they should not catch cold while the windows were opened to let in fresh air; of the dark playground downstairs, with the rats keeping up such a racket that one could hardly hear himself speak at times; or of that other East Side “playground” where the boys “weren’t allowed to speak above a whisper, ” so as not to disturb those studying overhead, I fancy that I can make out both the cause and the cure of the boy’s desperation."
  • "Anyone who compares being stocked with nuclear weapons to being bullied on the playground is a moron, though I would love to play Dodgeball with Palin - may knock some sense into her!"