manipulate
verb
ma·nip·u·late
mə-ˈni-pyə-ˌlāt 
manipulated; manipulating
1
: to treat or operate with or as if with the hands or by mechanical means especially in a skillful manner
manipulate a pencil
manipulate a machine
2
3
: to change by artful or unfair means so as to serve one's purpose : doctor
suspected that the police reports were manipulated—
Evelyn G. Cruickshanks
Evelyn G. CruickshanksExamples of manipulate in a Sentence
The baby is learning to manipulate blocks.
The mechanical arms are manipulated by a computer.
The doctor manipulated my back.
The program was designed to organize and manipulate large amounts of data.
He's always been good at manipulating numbers in his head.
As part of the experiment, students manipulated light and temperature to see how it affected the plants.
She knows how to manipulate her parents to get what she wants.
He felt that he had been manipulated by the people he trusted most.
The editorial was a blatant attempt to manipulate public opinion.
He's accused of trying to manipulate the price of the stock.
Recent Examples on the Web
The legislation was driven by concerns that the Chinese government could manipulate content and access sensitive data from American users.
—Dylan Butts, CNBC, 30 June 2025
His attorneys had argued that he was manipulated by Blanchard, a victim of Munchausen by proxy, to kill her mom and should have his charges reduced to second-degree murder, according to The Springfield News-Leader.
—Michael Nied, People.com, 27 June 2025
Fox agreed two years ago to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787 million to drop a lawsuit related to the network’s false claims that voting machines were manipulated to help President Biden win the 2020 election.
—Taryn Luna, Los Angeles Times, 27 June 2025
Now imagine this user isn’t a customer at all, but an attacker skillfully manipulating your AI to reveal that sensitive data—or, worse yet, tricking it to grant access to an internal system or database.
—Rupesh Chokshi, Forbes.com, 26 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for manipulate
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Dylan Butts, CNBC, 30 June 2025
His attorneys had argued that he was manipulated by Blanchard, a victim of Munchausen by proxy, to kill her mom and should have his charges reduced to second-degree murder, according to The Springfield News-Leader.
—Michael Nied, People.com, 27 June 2025
Fox agreed two years ago to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787 million to drop a lawsuit related to the network’s false claims that voting machines were manipulated to help President Biden win the 2020 election.
—Taryn Luna, Los Angeles Times, 27 June 2025
Now imagine this user isn’t a customer at all, but an attacker skillfully manipulating your AI to reveal that sensitive data—or, worse yet, tricking it to grant access to an internal system or database.
—Rupesh Chokshi, Forbes.com, 26 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for manipulate
Cite this Entry
“Manipulate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/manipulate. Accessed 8 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
manipulate
verb
ma·nip·u·late
mə-ˈnip-yə-ˌlāt
manipulated; manipulating
1
: to treat or operate with or as if with the hands or by mechanical means especially with skill
manipulate the trackball
2
: to manage or use skillfully
manipulate masses of statistics
3
: to manage especially with intent to deceive
manipulate accounts
manipulate public opinion
Medical Definition
manipulate
transitive verb
ma·nip·u·late
mə-ˈnip-yə-ˌlāt
manipulated; manipulating
1
: to treat or operate with the hands or by mechanical means especially in a skillful manner
manipulate the fragments of a broken bone into correct position
2
a
: to manage or utilize skillfully
b
: to control or play upon by artful, unfair, or insidious means especially to one's own advantage
manipulativeness
noun
Legal Definition
manipulate
transitive verb
ma·nip·u·late
mə-ˈni-pyə-ˌlāt
manipulated; manipulating
: to change by artful or unfair means so as to serve one's purpose
specifically
: to affect (the price of securities) artificially in order to deceive or mislead investors
manipulatively
adverb
manipulativeness
noun
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