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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Venezuela and the Caribbean nation — who in the 1990s signed a delimitation treaty establishing the terms for exploiting any hydrocarbon deposits on both sides of the border strip — share the Gulf of Paria, an inland sea at Venezuela’s westernmost end and south of the island of Trinidad.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
11 May 2026 -
Social media captures attention by exploiting social reward — approval, outrage, belonging.—
Jonathan Avery,
STAT,
11 May 2026
Verb
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In most cases, similar to engine controls, this climate control system can be checked for codes and the various modes manipulated with a scan tool.—
John Paul Senior Manager Public Affairs And Traffic Safety Aaa Northeast,
Hartford Courant,
16 May 2026
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This likely created new evolutionary pressure for specialized hand use during tasks such as carrying objects, manipulating tools, or gesturing.—
Rupendra Brahambhatt,
Interesting Engineering,
16 May 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 18 May. 2026.
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