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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The goalie coaches for NHL teams have a two-fold job, working with their own goalies to close up any weak points in their game, and scouting the other team’s goalies to look for areas their shooters might be able to exploit.—
Jess Myers,
Twin Cities,
4 May 2026 -
The Thunder are just that good – picking apart opponents to exploit weaknesses while shooting at a highly efficient clip from the field.—
Benjamin Royer,
Oc Register,
4 May 2026
Verb
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Defense attorneys argued at trial that the investigation into the assassination was a mess and that the four were manipulated into taking blame for an internal coup.—
David Fischer,
Sun Sentinel,
8 May 2026
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Still, the video is raising broader concerns about how AI could be used to manipulate voters, particularly as increasingly realistic deepfake technology becomes more widespread.—
Steve Large,
CBS News,
8 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 11 May. 2026.
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