play dumb | Idiomator

Meaning: (idiomatic,informal)Topretendto bedumb,either:Tofeignmuteness.1904,Rex Ellingwood Beach, “The Mule Driver and the Garrulous Mute”, inPardners:Iplayed dumb'cause I knew if I talked at all, being simple and guileless, you all would twist me up and have the whole thing in a jiffy.Tofeignstupidityorignoranceofsomeknowledge,usuallyin order toavoidresponsibilityorgainsomeadvantage.Synonym:play stupid1966April 1, “Milestones”, inTime:Died. Virginia Hill, 49, redheaded, free-spending playmate of the underworld... who later acted out a cameo role before the late Senator Estes Kefauver's Senate crime committee,playing dumbabout the business dealings of her many racketeer friends.2006 Sept. 17,David Mills, "Soft Eyes",The Wire, 00:35:20:Valchek:Kid, careers have been launched on ahelluvalotless. Just... shut up andplay dumb.Hauk:I can do that, no problem.

Examples:

EN: Don't play dumb.
ES: No te hagas la tonta.
ES: No te hagas la tonta.
EN: And I'm collecting a salary from each of them to play dumb.
ES: Y cada uno de ellos me paga un sueldo por hacerme el tonto.
EN: - Don't play dumb.
ES: - No te hagas el tonto.
ES: No se haga el tonto.
EN: Now, look, if you want me to play dumb anymore, I want $5,000 more.
ES: Si quiere que siga calladito, quiero 5.000 pavos más.
EN: Well, go on and play dumb if you want to.
ES: Bueno, adelante, hazte el tonto si quieres.
EN: And don't play dumb.
ES: Y no se haga el tonto.
EN: If that spy comes back, you play dumb, understand?
ES: Si vuelve ese espía, te haces el tonto, ¿entendido?
EN: - Okay, play dumb.
ES: - Vale, hazte el tonto.
EN: And play dumb.
ES: Tú mantente alerta y hazte el tonto.
EN: Dont play dumb.
ES: No seas tonta.
EN: Don't play dumb with me!
ES: ¡No me tomes por tonto!
EN: - Don't play dumb. You didn't pay. The wife said so.
ES: -No te hagas el idiota, no has pagado, me lo ha dicho mi mujer.
EN: I'll play dumb.
ES: Fingiré no saber nada.
EN: please, don't play dumb. It was annoying enough over the phone. 'The boss is out.' Where?
ES: No pongas esa voz de bobo para decir: 'El jefe está de compras...'
EN: I ain't saying much, and if you guys are wise, you'll play dumb too.
ES: No les diré demasiado, y si son listos, se harán los tontos.

Note: the examples for non latin scripts have a high likelihood of mistakes, we do not own any of this data and it is sourced from Wiktionary, the NLLB database and Opensubtitles. Please help us improve this by contributing correct examples. We will be working to fix this issue over time however it is a bigger issue due to the the difficulties in dealing with non latin scripts and grammatical structures(non-romantic/european languages have lower resources as well ).