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
• arranging
• hoodwinking
• scheming
• intriguing
• bluffing
• defrauding
• 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

Pamela Smart, whose conviction for manipulating her teenage lover into killing her husband became one of America's most notorious murder cases, has asked a New Hampshire judge to let her latest bid for a new trial move forward. — Greg Wehner, FOXNews.com, 25 July 2026

Football is all about engaño (trickery) — looking one way and passing the other, feinting to go left and swiftly moving right, manipulating the opposition and tricking them to open up those little spaces. — Xavi, New York Times, 19 July 2026

The company has repeatedly denied manipulating election results and says its technology contains safeguards designed to detect irregularities. — Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 17 July 2026

The film sees the Laestrygonians reimagined as gargantuan armored knights who trap Odysseus’s men in cages formed by manipulating the forest woods, destroying two of his three ships in the process. — Marlow Stern, Variety, 17 July 2026

Every improvement in surveillance capability encourages new methods of avoidance, whether through disabling tracking devices, manipulating vessel identities, or exploiting gaps between different monitoring systems. — IEEE Spectrum, 16 July 2026

Raving can be traced to the late 1980s, when artists like DJ Pierre and Spanky sparked a bright but short flame of acid house in Chicago clubs, manipulating synthesizers to create squelchy beats dancers could jack their bodies to. — Kiana Mickles, Pitchfork, 15 July 2026

The child told investigators that Duggar repeatedly asked her to sit on his lap, at one point manipulating her underwear and grazing her genitals on a couch and under a blanket. — Liza Esquibias, USA Today, 15 July 2026

This is by no means the first time that HAARP has been accused of controlling or manipulating the weather. — Emma Woollacott, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026