MANIPULATIVE Synonyms: 94 Similar and Opposite Words

manipulative

adjective

Definition of manipulative

as in deceptive

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of manipulative As the tribunes, Bernardo De Paula’s Brutus and Daniel DeYoung’s Sicinius scheme and rabble-rouse with manipulative glee. — Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 1 July 2026 The intimacy, financial pressure and manipulative language in romance scams, for example, may be hard to distinguish from genuine users seeking help with a divorce. — ABC News, 30 June 2026 Spinal manipulative therapy may offer a cost-effective or cost-neutral alternative, but the evidence base has substantial limitations and results are inconsistent. — David S. Shapiro, STAT, 30 June 2026 Elizabeth Yu plays the manipulative, cruel and competitive Fire Nation Princess Azula, who is the sister of Zuko and competes for their father’s affection. — Skyler Trepel, PEOPLE, 27 June 2026 See All Example Sentences for manipulative

Recent Examples of Synonyms for manipulative

Adjective

The standout interlude is the soldiers’ visit to the island domain of Circe, a treacherous witch played with deceptive calm and a misleading air of distraction by a bone-chilling Samantha Morton.

— David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 15 July 2026
Using a clinician’s name, image, or credentials in a synthetic endorsement without consent should be treated as deceptive practice, with liability directed toward those who commission or distribute the content.

— Henry Bair, STAT, 14 July 2026

Definition of deceptive

Adjective

Keep your actual and suspected traitors closer – the non-loyal, uncommitted, secretive, suspicious, dishonest, deceitful, chronically negative, and regularly undermining.

— Peter D. Banko, Forbes.com, 18 June 2026
The interview was secretly filmed in her apartment at Kensington Palace while she was separated from then-Prince Charles and later revealed to have been secured by deceitful methods.

— Janine Henni, PEOPLE, 2 June 2026

Definition of deceitful

Adjective

Or means that any comments are supposedly hypocritical.

— Ian Miller OutKick, FOXNews.com, 23 June 2026
Earlier this month, Matsui’s campaign came after Vang for taking corporate donations from Sacramento-area businesses during her city council campaigns, implying that Vang’s vows to not accept money from corporate PACs in her congressional bid is hypocritical.

— Mathew Miranda June 4, Sacbee.com, 4 June 2026

Definition of hypocritical

Adjective

The series, which ended in 2007, also starred Nancy Sullivan and Jonathan Goldstein as Drake's mom and Josh's dad, respectively, and Miranda Cosgrove as Drake's devious younger sister Megan.

— Victoria Edel, PEOPLE, 29 June 2026
Perhaps Munro’s most popular role is as Betty’s devious dad, Hal Cooper, on Riverdale.

— Skyler Trepel, Entertainment Weekly, 27 June 2026

Definition of devious

Adjective

This Claudia is the opposite of Hayles’s quiet, cunning performance as Regina and conveys a phenomenal range.

— Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 14 July 2026
Also of great importance in the finale is the revelation that the Soviets, thanks to the cunning genius of the Chief Designer, made it to Venus after all.

— Hunter Ingram, Variety, 10 July 2026

Definition of cunning

Adjective

Resurrection Dex’s Resurrection is an uncomfortably honest and self-critical mixtape about the British rapper attempting to reform his crooked ways.

— Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 17 July 2026
Whitehead, meanwhile, crystalizes his sense of what makes the city run, where Carney fits in, and how the straight and crooked worlds are entwined in one strange ecosystem with laws that only the lawless can enforce.

— David Hajdu, The Atlantic, 16 July 2026

Definition of crooked

Adjective

Before Mbappe scored his penalty, Gustavo Velazquez, the Paraguayan defender, scuffed the penalty spot, another underhanded attempt to disturb the tournament favourites.

— Adam Crafton, New York Times, 5 July 2026
Years of unrelenting pressure—smear campaigns, interrogations, arrests, a violent raid, and underhanded attempts at control—had succeeded in breaking it.

— Bozorgmehr Sharafedin, The Atlantic, 1 June 2026

Definition of underhanded

Adjective

The show gestures at the classic targets of old-timey sexism, small-mindedness, and nativism—much of it embodied by Gasteyer’s scheming character—but only in the safest possible ways.

— Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 21 Apr. 2026
Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, and Chace Crawford catapulted to fame playing the scheming social butterflies flitting around Gossip Girl's Upper East Side.

— Rachel DeSantis, Entertainment Weekly, 6 Apr. 2026

Definition of scheming

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“Manipulative.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/manipulative. Accessed 20 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of manipulative

adjective

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