Standard Lemma guide

self-play

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A technique for improving the performance of reinforcement learning agents by having them play against themselves.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Qualifier: machine learning

Examples

  • Self-play was used by the AlphaZero program to improve its performance in the games of chess, shogi and go.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From self- + play.