as in exploited
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
Relevance
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for played (upon)
Verb
-
Critics warn that such emotional connections could be exploited commercially, turning intimacy into a product.—
Staff,
FOXNews.com,
6 Sep. 2025 -
Google has issued a critical warning for all Android users, confirming that two separate vulnerabilities have been exploited in the wild.—
Zak Doffman,
Forbes.com,
6 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
In the area there are multiple objects that can be manipulated to cause a distraction — a feature that will be very familiar to fans of the IO Interactive’s Hitman series.—
Christopher Cruz,
Rolling Stone,
3 Sep. 2025
-
But all of it had been manipulated.—
Felipe Schrieberg,
Forbes.com,
2 Sep. 2025
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Played (upon).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/played%20%28upon%29. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share