Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Full of fun and high spirits; frolicsome or sportive.
  • adjective Humorous; jesting.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Full of play; sportive; frolicsome: frisky: as, a playful child.
  • Showing a sportive fancy or sprightly humor; pleasantly jocular: as, a playful remark; a playful style; playful attentions.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Sportive; gamboling; frolicsome; indulging a sportive fancy; humorous; merry

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective liking play, prone to play frequently, such as a child or kitten; rather sportive.
  • adjective funny, humorous, jesting, frolicsome.
  • adjective fun, recreational, not serious.
  • adjective experimental.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective full of fun and high spirits

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English pleiful, equivalent to play +‎ -ful.

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