as in to exploit
to control or take advantage of by artful, unfair, or insidious means
played upon the customer's vanity to convince her to buy the expensive makeup kit
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for play (upon)
Verb
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Fragmented oversight creates opportunities for dishonest actors to exploit the gaps.—
Sally Pipes,
Forbes.com,
1 June 2026 -
Calif says a small team of researchers used a preview version of Anthropic's Claude Mythos to help build a working macOS kernel exploit against Apple's new M5 chip protections in less than a week.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
1 June 2026
Verb
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That echoes findings of a delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which visited Yerevan in May and said foreign interference included illicit political financing, cyberattacks, economic coercion and direct attempts to manipulate the electoral process.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
6 June 2026
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The number then becomes harder to interpret and easier to manipulate.—
James Broughel,
Forbes.com,
6 June 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Play (upon).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/play%20%28upon%29. Accessed 8 Jun. 2026.
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