play off against

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to set people or groups against one another to gain an advantage

   Phrasal-prepositional verb · Separable

   play someone off against someone else / play off someone against someone else

   Usage: Use play someone off against someone else or play off someone against someone else for deliberately creating rivalry. With a personal pronoun, use play them off against each other.

   The manager tried to play off two suppliers against each other to obtain a lower price.

   Sources and attribution

   OpenAI Codex authors; independent AI editorial review recorded in the corpus review archive. — Original project editorial material; cleared for The Missing Workbook

   • The Missing Workbook: original construction review

   The manager tried to play off two suppliers against each other to obtain a lower price.

Topics

External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
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