play sb/sth off against sb/sth
— phrasal verb with play uk/pleɪ/us/pleɪ/verb
to encourage one person or group to compete or argue with another, hoping to gain some advantage from this situation:
Management policy seemed to be to play one department off against another.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Competing and contending (non-sporting)
- cat
- challenge
- close-run
- competitive
- contend
- contender
- contest
- contestant
- entry
- go in for sth
- jockey
- one-upmanship
- pit sb/sth against sb/sth
- pit your wits against sb/sth idiom
- play cat and mouse idiom
- race
- rival
- rivalry
- scramble
- square
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