[ adj ] full of fun and high spirits <adj.all> playful children just let loose from school
Playful \Play"ful\, a. Sportive; gamboling; frolicsome; indulging a sportive fancy; humorous; merry; as, a playful child; a playful writer. -- {Play"ful*ly}, adv. -- {Play"ful*ness}, n.
He seems a resourceful man, who would not be caught out by the playful antics of his young vixen; a degree of mature wisdom, of worldly depth is missing.
He wants to create a spontaneous, playful atmosphere.
What were you like as a child? 'I would say I was quiet, very playful.
These opening scenes are light and playful.
The Hogettes have endured not only icy stadium winds but more than a few surprise pinches on their tushes from playful fans.
He provides extensive program notes that are lucid, playful, insightful and of a scope beyond any other program notes written for New York concerts.
In a playful mock prospectus for IBM Acquisition Corp., James Grant, editor of Grant's Interest Rate Observer, pretends that exactly such an acquisition is under way.
It's a playful style,"she says.
It is this affectionately playful tone that is ATC's strongest suit.
The driving bass lines, joyous percussion and wailing saxophone join with the Queens' playful, sometimes dissonant, harmonizing to make an uplifting sound designed for dancing.
In the first act only the frank scherzo-music had any spark; the playful and mischievous moments which need to enliven Tosca's scene with her lover came out like squeezed toothpaste. By contrast, the climaxes were often raw and overblown.
Combining the long, thorough journalism of Manhattan inc. and the playful spirit of the old M, M Inc. casts an upperclass eye on the hearty appetites of men.
Even Jean-Louis Gassee, an ebullient Frenchman brought in by Mr. Sculley in 1985 to manage the revamped product-development efforts, still defends the "fundamental rightness" of the original Macintosh idea, especially its playful graphics.
'I want to show that Rio is different from other Latin American cities - it's playful and rebellious.' Behind all the promotion, however, Mr Maia is serious.
A playful bit of English tradition went on the auction block Thursday.
Maybe after this week's incredible round in federal court, more people may decide that Jeremy Rifkin isn't such a playful "gadfly" after all.
Evelia Alvarez Gasca, good-humored and playful, likes to sing and dance.
There are many photographs of Flora - smiling with alert, playful eyes - in the Swires' sandstone house overlooking the Malvern Hills of central England.
Critics are questioning the morality of the Navy's plan to train naturally playful dolphins to guard nuclear submarines.
For the Beethoven sonata originally announced, he substituted the early, playful variation-set on the duet 'Ein Madchen oder Weibchen' from Mozart's Magic Flute, to which Brown made his own sparkling contribution.
Lafeyette Walton lives in a neighborhood where gunshots are as common as the playful screeches of young children.
Attached to the Tate is a new Turner wing paid for by the Charles Clore Foundation and designed in Mr. Stirling's customary playful style.
For women, Mizrahi was typically playful, with teeny skirts with one button at the waist ("I call them placemats because that's what they look like on the table") and Indian-inspired fringe ponchos with shawl dresses.