HTTP/2 200
date: Wed, 08 Oct 2025 16:55:15 GMT
content-type: text/html; charset=utf-8
content-security-policy-report-only: default-src 'self';img-src 'self' data: https://flickr.com https://*.flickr.com https://s.gravatar.com https://s.gravatar.com/avatar https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar https://i1.wp.com/cdn.auth0.com/avatars https://cdn.auth0.com/avatars https://g.stripe.com/ https://ssl.google-analytics.com https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/ https://farm66.static.flickr.com https://www.google-analytics.com https://tpc.googlesyndication.com https://pbs.twimg.com https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net https://*.amazon-adsystem.com https://fundingchoicesmessages.google.com https://*.3lift.com https://ams-pageview-public.s3.amazonaws.com https://www.google.com https://syndication.twitter.com https://image8.pubmatic.com https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net https://*.googleusercontent.com;base-uri 'self';font-src 'self' https: data:;frame-ancestors 'self';frame-src https://js.stripe.com https://platform.twitter.com/ https://syndication.twitter.com/ https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/ https://*.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/ https://www.google.com/ https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/;connect-src 'self' https: https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/ppub_config https://bam.nr-data.net/events/1/cb925c8058;object-src none;script-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' report-sample https://js.stripe.com/v3/ https://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.12.4.min.js https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.4.1.slim.min.js https://code.jquery.com/jquery-migrate-1.4.1.min.js https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/popper.js@1.16.0/dist/umd/popper.min.js https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.4.1/js/bootstrap.min.js https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/validate.js/0.13.1/validate.min.js https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/underscore.js/1.8.3/underscore-min.js https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/list.js/1.5.0/list.min.js https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js https://www.googletagmanager.com/ https://ssl.google-analytics.com/ga.js https://js-agent.newrelic.com/nr-spa-1184.min.js https://fundingchoicesmessages.google.com https://bam.nr-data.net https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net https://www.googletagservices.com https://adservice.google.com https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/tether/1.4.0/js/tether.min.js https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/popper.js/1.12.9/umd/popper.min.js https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/clipboard@2.0.8/dist/clipboard.min.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/howler/2.1.1/howler.min.js https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/validator/10.9.0/validator.min.js https://*.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/ https://*.googlesyndication.com/ https://platform.twitter.com/js/ https://cdn.ampproject.org https://www.google-analytics.com https://adservice.google.be https://adservice.google.ca https://adservice.google.co.id https://adservice.google.co.mz https://adservice.google.co.th https://adservice.google.co.uk https://adservice.google.co.za https://adservice.google.com.au https://adservice.google.com.ec https://adservice.google.com.hk https://adservice.google.com.ng https://adservice.google.com.np https://adservice.google.com.ph https://adservice.google.com.sa https://adservice.google.de https://adservice.google.es https://adservice.google.fi https://adservice.google.fr https://adservice.google.ie https://adservice.google.it https://adservice.google.lk https://adservice.google.lt https://adservice.google.nl https://adservice.google.no https://adservice.google.rs https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net;script-src-attr none;style-src 'self' https: 'unsafe-inline' report-sample;report-uri https://5f9d927665d1a16209ba908c.endpoint.csper.io
x-dns-prefetch-control: off
expect-ct: max-age=0
x-frame-options: SAMEORIGIN
strict-transport-security: max-age=15552000; includeSubDomains
x-download-options: noopen
x-content-type-options: nosniff
x-permitted-cross-domain-policies: none
referrer-policy: origin-when-cross-origin
x-xss-protection: 0
etag: W/"123c4-vSZrKGBPUlBaaAdtLc7HQ0iRBzo"
set-cookie: cookienik=eyJjc3JmU2VjcmV0Ijoia2ZXcTBNbmNoVDNJUzVWdzh0OUFOTERsIn0=; path=/; expires=Sat, 11 Oct 2025 16:55:15 GMT; domain=wordnik.com; secure; httponly
set-cookie: cookienik.sig=74KcAN97M9LVk2_tNmZlbZ_bG5E; path=/; expires=Sat, 11 Oct 2025 16:55:15 GMT; domain=wordnik.com; secure; httponly
vary: Accept-Encoding
content-encoding: gzip
play-by-play - definition and meaning
Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
adjective Being or giving a detailed running account of the action of an event, especially a sports event, as it occurs.
noun A detailed commentary of an event as it unfolds.
from Wiktionary , Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
adjective US Describing a sports commentary in which a commentator describes every action in some detail, often assisted by a second commentator who provides background information and other comments
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word play-by-play .
Examples
Tales stepped back to the pitchers hill, and once again he started calling the play-by-play .
Great Balls of Fire Loren Long 2008
MIAMI—Broadcasters covering the NBA finals for Spanish-speaking fans from different parts of the world do it from a Tower of Babel where a dunk is not a dunk, but the play-by-play guys disagree about just what to call it.
Talking Basketball, in Spanish, Is Definitely No Slam Dunk Joel Millman 2011
A study this season by The Count looked at every major NFL announcing outfit and counted how many words-per-minute the play-by-play and color men said.
Who Are Football's Chattiest Announcers? 2011
This analysis, which studied the first 15 minutes of every game from Week 1, showed Mr. Harlan was the most-talkative play-by-play man at 120.9 words-per-minute, while Kenny Albert was the quietest at 55.4.
Who Are Football's Chattiest Announcers? 2011
* Reality check of the day: William Saletan on why the play-by-play of the Arizona shooting does not support the idea that armed citizens would make us safer in such situations.
Happy Hour Roundup Greg Sargent 2011
A bombazo specialist might be a francotirador , Spanish for sniper, explains Mr. Daimiel, one of nearly a dozen out-of-town Spanish broadcasters shouting their play-by-play over the din of the crowds and the Heat's Cuban percussion combo during Game 2 last week.
Talking Basketball, in Spanish, Is Definitely No Slam Dunk Joel Millman 2011
At Selcuk, headlocks were greeted by roars of approval from the crowd, and a higher octave from the commentator's relentless play-by-play .
What's a Bigger Draw Than a Camel Fight? A Camel Beauty Contest, of Course Joe Parkinson 2011
They know the team and unlike football where you have a week for a national play-by-play to get to know the players, you only have a day in baseball.
Colin Barnicle: What Happened in the Game? Colin Barnicle 2010
Head locks were greeted by roars of approval from the crowd, and a higher octave from the commentator's relentless play-by-play .
Here He Comes, Mr. Camel 2011
SWITCH THE ANNOUNCERS: Whoever the team is, have their everday announcer do the play-by-play .
Colin Barnicle: What Happened in the Game? Colin Barnicle 2010
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.