replay

Other forms: replays; replayed; replaying

When you replay something, you play it again, whether it's a soccer match or a blues tune on your guitar. You can even replay, or repeat, a happy event over and over again in your mind.

If you take a video of your kitten playing with a ball of yarn, you can replay it any time you need a little cheering up. And in some sports, teams will replay a game that ends in a tie or is cancelled because of bad weather. This sports meaning is actually the oldest on record for replay, from an 1862 description of a curling match.

Definitions of replay

1. verb

   play again
   “We replayed the game”

   “replay a point”

   type of:

   play

   participate in games or sport
2. verb

   play (a melody) again
   type of:

   play, spiel

   replay (as a melody)
3. verb

   repeat a game against the same opponent
   “Princeton replayed Harvard”

   type of:

   encounter, meet, play, take on

   contend against an opponent in a sport, game, or battle
4. verb

   reproduce (a recording) on a recorder
   synonyms: play back

   type of:

   reproduce

   make a copy or equivalent of