as in to use
to take unfair advantage of
the candidate played on the voters' prejudices
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for play (on or upon)
Verb
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Opera has used the Neon name before for a concept browser back in 2017.—
James Peckham,
PC Magazine,
30 Sep. 2025 -
Others, however, believed that Johnson used his access as leverage in dealing with Bukele.—
T. Christian Miller,
ProPublica,
30 Sep. 2025
Verb
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State-of-the-art dilution refrigerators exploit mixtures of helium-3 and helium-4 to cool qubits down to millikelvin temperatures where fragile quantum states can persist.—
Kaif Shaikh,
Interesting Engineering,
24 Sep. 2025
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That each and every one of us has a role to play in standing up against authoritarian powers that want to exploit our differences for their own gain.—
Hayes Madsen,
Rolling Stone,
24 Sep. 2025
Verb
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There were ugly scenes at the Bethpage golf course throughout yesterday’s second day of play as European players, McIlroy in particular, were routinely heckled and abused by rowdy fans, including while standing over shots.—
Andreas Wiseman,
Deadline,
28 Sep. 2025
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The lawsuit further alleges that the airlines manipulated and abused the arrival rate system at DCA airport to force more arrivals per hour, despite knowing that doing so would reduce safety margins.—
Michelle Del Rey,
USA Today,
26 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The prospect, then, that a robot could leverage a battery that offers six times as much energy capacity is one that could propel the industry forward in terms of return on investment for robotics solutions.—
Meghan Hall,
Sourcing Journal,
24 Sep. 2025
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Gamow leveraged this fact to make three great, generic predictions about the young Universe.—
Ethan Siegel,
Big Think,
23 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Julie asked Jimmy Heagerty about where things stood with Mickey Lee, and Jimmy said Morgan did a great job manipulating Mickey into sending him home.—
David Wysong,
Cincinnati Enquirer,
29 Sep. 2025
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With its flexible solvers, Newton allows developers to simulate complex, real-world tasks ranging from walking on snow and gravel to manipulating fragile objects like cups and fruit.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
29 Sep. 2025
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“Play (on or upon).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/play%20%28on%20or%20upon%29. Accessed 30 Sep. 2025.
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