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
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Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for played (upon)
Verb
-
Almost 90 percent of global marine fish stocks are fully exploited or overfished.—
Tom Tapp,
Deadline,
11 June 2026 -
They can be stolen, reused and exploited.—
Art Gilliland,
Forbes.com,
11 June 2026
Verb
-
Benchmaxing, by contrast, is about the structural conditions under which the entire industry evaluates itself—and, the research argues, those conditions are routinely manipulated or ignored.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
8 June 2026
-
With enough optimization and intervention, their argument goes, the body can be manipulated into becoming fully knowable, mastered, perfect.—
Brady Brickner-Wood,
New Yorker,
4 June 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Played (upon).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/played%20%28upon%29. Accessed 13 Jun. 2026.
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