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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Jeffrey Breinholt, an architect of the material support statutes who spent three decades as a federal terrorism prosecutor, defends the laws as crucial to closing loopholes that were exploited by foreign militant groups and their domestic sympathizers.—
Hannah Allam,
ProPublica,
10 Sep. 2025 -
Her 23-year-old son, Rahjah Ke’ Morton, recently accused her of exploiting his past cancer diagnosis for personal gain.—
Essence,
Essence,
10 Sep. 2025
Verb
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When writers see and manipulate structure, words become poetry.—
Rebecca Coffey,
Forbes.com,
8 Sep. 2025
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Cyrus was quick to defend herself, implying her words had been manipulated by the Times.—
Kate Hogan,
PEOPLE,
7 Sep. 2025
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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 13 Sep. 2025.
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