Exercise
Exercise noun - The act or practice of employing something for a particular purpose.
Usage example: the observation that the best exercise for losing weight is the exercise of one's ability to say no to food
Play is a synonym for exercise in application topic. In some cases you can use "Play" instead the word "Exercise" as a noun or a verb, when it comes to topics like used.
Play
Play noun - The act or practice of employing something for a particular purpose.
Usage example: the host's sense of humor was obviously in play during the awards ceremony
Exercise is a synonym for play in action topic. Sometimes you can use "Exercise" instead the word "Play" as a noun or a verb, if it concerns topics such as application, used, latitude.
Mutual synonyms
How words are described
| good | good exercise | good play |
| long | long exercise | long play |
| normal | normal exercise | normal play |
| regular | regular exercise | regular play |
| Other adjectives: poor, actual, entire, real, constant, big, little, excellent, interesting, major, dramatic, final, casual, basic, last, extended. | ||
Common collocations
Both words in one sentence
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Unlike in Real Life, castration (owners often need to encourage neutered toms to exercise and play) is very rarely the cause for this.
Source: Fat Cat - Rule Zero is simply a reminder to the players that the GM has to exercise some common sense and is permitted to supersede the rules when the rules would ruin enjoyment and fair play.
Source: Rule Zero - On Victorious, acting teacher Erwin Sikowitz is Captain of the Jori ship: he twice casts frenemies Tori and Jade as a married couple, first for an acting exercise and later for a play.
Source: Shipper On Deck / Live-Action TV
Cite this Source
Play and Exercise. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/exercise/play
Exercise & Play. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/exercise/play>.
Play or Exercise. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/exercise/play.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "exercise" and "play" have occurred on timeline