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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With key Pistons defenders like Ausar Thompson (ankle), Cade Cunningham (lung), and Isaiah Stewart (calf) sidelined or doubtful, Gilgeous-Alexander has a prime opportunity to exploit the matchup.—
Tyler Everett,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 Mar. 2026 -
This property is driven by a phenomenon known as plasmonics, where light interacting with a material generates collective oscillations of electrons, producing highly localized electromagnetic fields that can be exploited in technologies such as sensing, catalysis, and energy harvesting.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
30 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Orban started manipulating these grievances, and did so to significantly divide Hungarian society.—
John Shattuck,
The Conversation,
27 Mar. 2026
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As machines grow more powerful, society will become increasingly effective at shaping the world, while individuals who never learned to think deeply will be easier to manipulate.—
Shai Tubali,
Big Think,
27 Mar. 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 4 Apr. 2026.
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