Synonyms of manipulating

manipulating

verb

present participle of manipulate

1

as in exploiting

to control or take advantage of by artful, unfair, or insidious means

the con man would slyly manipulate the emotions of his marks in order to win their sympathy and trust

Synonyms & Similar Words

• exploiting
• deceiving
• playing (upon)
• maneuvering
• tricking
• plotting
• fooling
• jockeying
• engineering
• duping
• devising
• deluding
• hoodwinking
• scheming
• arranging
• intriguing
• defrauding
• bluffing
• cheating
• gulling
• swindling
• conning
• masterminding
• kidding
• finagling
• fleecing
• hoaxing
• contriving
• finessing
• chiseling
• snowing
• taking in
• beguiling
• machinating
• cozening
• shanghaiing
• hustling

2

as in managing

to deal with (something) usually skillfully or efficiently

spin doctors manipulating the data to make it seem more favorable to their preferred candidates

Synonyms & Similar Words

• managing
• handling
• addressing
• treating
• negotiating
• taking
• playing
• maneuvering
• hacking
• swinging
• coping (with)
• fielding
• grappling (with)
• controlling
• contending (with)
• pulling
• coming to grips with
• regulating
• jockeying
• having a grip on
• guiding
• engineering
• carrying out
• directing
• steering
• finessing
• getting off
• carrying off
• commanding
• responding (to)
• reacting (to)
• micromanaging
• bringing off
• running

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• fumbling
• mishandling
• bungling
• botching
• messing (up)
• muffing
• goofing (up)
• scamping
• lousing up
• foozling

3

as in negotiating

to plan out usually with subtle skill or care

manipulated the schedule of presidential primaries so that the choice of the party elders would win the nomination

Synonyms & Similar Words

• negotiating
• arranging
• plotting
• managing
• engineering
• maneuvering
• contriving
• framing
• masterminding
• finessing
• wangling
• machinating
• finagling
• concluding
• scheming
• conducting
• concocting
• handling
• conniving
• directing
• concerting
• working out
• hammering out
• intriguing
• hatching
• compassing
• brewing
• angling (for)
• commanding
• cooking (up)
• running
• gerrymandering
• quarterbacking
• captaining

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• blowing
• mangling
• fumbling
• mishandling
• butchering
• bungling
• botching
• messing (up)
• gumming (up)
• flubbing
• bobbling
• muffing
• lousing up

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of manipulating

Maeve wakes up unhinged, manipulating her not-grandson Eddie (Anson Boon) and relishing a gunfight that leaves a hole in her husband’s chest like a typical partner might celebrate a birthday party. — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 17 Sep. 2026

Posters are editing and manipulating the recordings to distort their content. — Jennifer McRae, CBS News, 16 Sep. 2026

But even if the risks are merely bad—like hacking into a single financial institution or hospital, manipulating the stock market, or taking out an electrical grid—suing a company after the fact won’t really provide the outcome society wants. — Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 15 Sep. 2026

While looking for his wife’s killer, he gets involved with Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss), a bartender who may be helping or manipulating him. — David Faris, TheWeek, 14 Sep. 2026

Artificial intelligence makes manipulating images, voices and video easier than ever. — Jason Lloyd, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2026

The ultimate result is, plainly, a crowd-pleaser — the good kind — engineered by someone who knows the difference between manipulating its audience and bringing genuine care and heart to a story. — Angelique Jackson, Variety, 11 Sep. 2026

Gharials are notoriously difficult to breed, and Fort Worth zookeepers spent more than a decade manipulating environmental conditions before the first four hatchlings made their appearance in 2023. — Harriet Ramos, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9 Sep. 2026

Last Wednesday, Meta reached a settlement with the attorneys general of forty-seven states, who had sued it for illegally manipulating the attention of children. — Benjamin Wallace-Wells, New Yorker, 30 Aug. 2026